#389 Inside MTIH - The Support System You Need to Know About with Lynn Hughes

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In this episode of Better Than Before Breast Cancer™, I sit down with Lynn Hughes, Director of Development at the Metabolic Terrain Institute of Health (MTIH), to uncover game-changing resources many cancer patients never discover.

Your key takeaways from this powerful conversation:

  1. Financial barriers shouldn't stop you from accessing integrative care. Learn about the $1,000 patient grants available through MTIH and how to qualify - a resource many don't know exists.
  2. MTIH's new research facility in Phoenix is pioneering breakthrough approaches that bridge standard and complementary care, revolutionizing how we think about cancer treatment.
  3. A new patient-focused educational program launches in early 2025, making specialized metabolic health knowledge directly accessible to those who need it most.

My conversation with Lynn Hughs, Development Director at MTIH, reveals how MTIH is transforming cancer care through their "test, assess, don't guess" philosophy. As someone managing my own stage 4 diagnosis, I've personally experienced how this approach can dramatically improve quality of life during treatment.

Whether you're newly diagnosed, in treatment, or supporting a loved one, this episode unlocks doors to support systems you may never have known existed. Join us to discover how combining standard treatment with metabolic health approaches could revolutionize your cancer journey.

Don't miss this insider's look at the resources, research, and revolutionary changes happening behind the scenes in cancer care. Your path to better support starts here.

 

Referred to in this episode:

Metabolic Terrain Institute of Health

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Books:
The Metabolic Approach to Cancer

Mistletoe and the Emerging Future of Integrative Oncology

 

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Read the full transcript:

 

0:34
Hello and welcome to episode 389

0:39
this episode is coming out at the beginning of December, and I cannot think of a better time to address this topic than right now, the giving season. Right the season when all of our hearts and all of our minds are in giving. It's a wonderful time of the year. And I want to address something that I hear from many clients and many women who want to be clients and are out there looking for support after breast cancer diagnosis, and one of those things is they don't realize the amount of support that is out there for them. Why does that have anything to do with the giving season? Because when it comes to giving season, there's two sides to this right. There's the side of the person that is in need, and there's the other side of a person who has resources to give. I am so as an advocate, as my role as a coach and as a train advocate, one of the things I do is to help my clients find resources to support them, financial resources in getting the support that they want and that they need in coaching and with naturopathic care, there's so many resources available to us. But the sad thing is, a lot of people don't know about it. I'm so fortunate that I work with so many women who often tell me new resources that I haven't even heard about. So look forward to seeing some additions on the resources page of my website coming up for 2025 because I realized this is a huge area that needs more knowledge, needs more energy behind it, more awareness, more awareness behind it, that it's available, one for people to use when they need it, and two, for people to give when they have something to give. So I wanted to do a show today to really talk in depth about some of the resources that are not only available to you right now, but that are coming to support you. And when I say you, I mean anyone who's had a cancer diagnosis, and I mean anyone who just wants to improve their metabolic health and needs support with that to know that there's resources out there available for you. So I have invited an amazing human being, Lynn Hughes, who's the Director of Development at the metabolic terrain Institute of Health, and Lynn and I are going to share with you some of the things that are already available for you through the metabolic terrain, Institute of Health, some of the things that are up and coming to support you, which are super exciting, because I not only want you to hear about you know, what resources, resources are available, but what people are thinking, what the vision is to offer more and better integrative support for those of us who are looking For a way to thrive in our lives. So I've invited Lynn. She's an incredible person. We've had a wonderful conversation about what is there, about what is coming, and about how you can access resources if you need them, and how you can get back if you're someone that has the resources to give to support other people in our community. So let me tell you a little bit about Lynn before I bring her on. So Lynn has a master's in leadership development, and she has nearly 25 years of experience driving growth, visibility and sustainability for nonprofit organizations, including more than 15 years at the executive level of management experience. So before she came to the metabolic train Institute of Health, she spent four years in a leadership role at community mental health facilities, where she was responsible for community engagement, grant writing efforts and provided leadership to the organization's marketing, crisis services and quality compliance departments before services and behavioral health. She actually spent nine years as the executive director of a non profit Children's Museum, where she was responsible for guiding the transition from the museum's 3000 square foot facility to a new 26,000 square foot Museum. After opening that facility, she was charged with collaborating with individual donors and public, corporate and other institutions to secure more funding for the museum operations, exhibits, programs and scholarships, promoting the museum's program and events, administration of day to day operations, and managing the budget. So definitely took on a lot of responsibility. She also spent 10 years. In higher education, where she was a graphic designer, a Director of Public Relations and an Executive Director of College relations, Special Assistant to the President and co director of the college annual fund, and she spent two years as a newspaper reporter. She has a bachelor degree in journalism and a master's in leadership development, and she has a voice. I don't knock your socks off. I know that because when I met her at the metabolic train institute of health conference back in April of 2024 we all met up in Texas, and Lynn sang for us. In fact, it was part of what she did to raise funds for all of us that were there at the conference and in that area. And she sang the song for us. She said, if we could raise X amount of money in this room for all the people who are here who love what this institute represents, then I'll sing for you. And she did, and it was an incredible experience. So I want you to meet Lynn. I want you to hear about the resources that are available to you, but I also want you to hear about this incredible organization, the metabolic train Institute of Health, is an incredible organization that I'm so passionate about and that I support in every possible way that I can so without further ado, please enjoy this conversation with the beautiful Lynn Hughes. Hello Lynn, welcome to you with better than before breast cancer podcast. And thank you so much for taking time out of what I know is an insanely full schedule to talk with us today. So happy to have you here. I'm

6:29
so glad to be here, and so just grateful for the opportunity to talk to you, and, you know, spend time with you and and and your your viewers and listeners. Yeah, you

6:39
know, it's such an important message, and I always love and you know, obviously you're in the inner circle, part of the mission, part of the vision, part of making things happen. And the reason I want to do this is because it's so important that other people understand what's happening behind the scenes. And like, there's a huge movement on this metabolic health platform and through the metabolic train Institute of Health, I think so many people just are unaware of what resources are available, what vision is there, what they can be a part of, what they can contribute to. So I can't wait to get it all, all inside scoop. But let's start off with I'd love to hear why you're here, what? What brought you to the metabolic train Institute of Health and and why do you put so much energy into this? And, yeah, just tell us about your

7:29
story. Yeah. So I've been with the metabolic train Institute of Health for about two years, and it's actually kind of serendipitous. I've spent most of my life working in nonprofit organizations. I've got a really kind of varied background. I started as a newspaper reporter. I did that for two years. Kind of covered city and county government and cops and courts. Worked in higher education for 10 years, doing PR, marketing, fundraising, community engagement. Worked, kind of as a, you know, kind of in my final roles there was working for the President of the institution, and kind of just being a Jill of all trades, just kind of doing what, you know, whatever needed to be done at that, you know, cabinet level. And so was involved with budgeting and, you know, international recruiting and all sorts of different things. And then from there I went, and I was the executive director of the Children's Museum in the town where I live for nine years. So in that role, just again, did a little bit of everything, mostly fundraising and community engagement. And then from there, I took a complete turn and went and worked in community mental health for four years. So I was working with seriously mentally ill, serious substance use issues, and started out in a PR marketing fundraising role, but kind of morphed into working within our crisis services, and then also worked within quality and compliance as well. So my background is just all over the map.

8:59
Yeah, very diversified. Yeah, but,

9:01
you know, I came across the metabolic train Institute of Health, and an interesting place in my journey. My husband and I are actually looking to foster a child, and knew that I couldn't, kind of manage the the chaos of the community mental health world, while also managing the chaos of a foster child that was going to need a lot of appointments and additional support. And so I started to look for jobs that were remote, and I stumbled across the metabolic terrain Institute of Health, a posting for a fundraising position. And everything I read about I honestly didn't know much about the organization when I first applied. I do have 10 years of experience volunteering with Susan G Komen for the Cure was the chair of the race. So I have a, you know, a strong interest in in health and wellness and cancer and really, prevention. You. Know of cancer. It's something that's really near and dear to my heart. Being an advocate for yourself as a patient. One of the things that I did while I was a race chair was my honorary chairs. One year were four women that were diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 40. And I remember at the time, I was in my 20s, you know, leading this race effort, and hearing their stories about their misdiagnosis and how they knew that something was wrong and their doctors didn't believe them. Basically said, it's, it's, it's probably nothing, you're too young. And it, it, it infuriate, it. It made me mad, and also broke my heart, you know, because unfortunately, down, you know, down the road, a couple of those honorary chairs passed on, you know, because by the time they were diagnosed, they were stage four, and had to really do all the the really, really hard work of trying to reverse, you know, something that should have been caught earlier. And so that became a real passion of mine. And so when I came across this position, I'm, you know, I definitely believe in health and wellness and really helping people live their best lives possible, mentally, physically, emotionally, and everything that MT ih stood for was something you know, that was already deep in my heart and my soul. And you know, especially when you're working in nonprofit, you really, really, really need to believe in the mission. You need to believe in the work that you're doing, because you are, you are the representative of that organization. Your passion is what carries that work forward and helps ignite passion in other people. And so it really just kind of fell into my lap, but was such the right fit and the right opportunity at the right time, and it's, it's been a learning experience for me, for sure. You know, I have a lot of different experiences, and I have learned so much through this work about how I can continue to use my passion to help more people out there who are who are in this journey, who are working hard to heal, who are working hard to be heard and understood. And it's just been, it's been absolutely beautiful. So that's my story. I

12:25
love it. Well, you said a couple of things that really resonate with me. And I don't think that the general public has really had this paradigm shift yet when they hear about metabolic health, because in the world, when we get a diagnosis of cancer, we're cancer focused and tumor focused and medicine focused, and we go to an oncologist, and he's tumor focused, or she's tumor focused, right? And so then people come to me, or people come to MT, ih, and they're like, What about these medicines? What about this tumor? What about this onco score? And I think it's a really important message to get some more energy behind is even though it's called the metabolic approach to cancer, it's not about cancer. It's about wellness. It's about how each of us have the opportunity to improve our metabolic health, bring more joy into our life. Right focus on that future version of the life we're trying to create and the healing we're trying to accomplish, and that's a huge paradigm shift, right? And and there are other organizations, other groups, that are very cancer focused, and the conversations are all about cancer, and I think that that attracts people who need that. But I I know that there are a lot of people with a cancer diagnosis for like, I want something different, I want something positive, I want something forward thinking. I want something supportive. I don't want my life to be completely about cancer. And I think it's an important message to get across it, that is exactly what metabolic terrain Institute of Health is all about, right? It is,

13:56
it is, for sure. And, you know, and I think an important part of that conversation is, you know, giving people the knowledge community and support that they need to feel courageous in stepping into that space. You know, because, just like I said with, you know, the the four women that were, you know, my honorary chairs that were diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 40. You know, you, you hit so many roadblocks to advocating for yourself, and whether that is advocating for the fact that, you know, I'm, I'm sick, and there's something more wrong with me than what you're you're looking at or saying, you know, I want to try some things, you know. I understand that the symptom, the major symptom at hand, is this tumor, and I understand that I need to, you know, look at this, but having the courage to say, you know, I also want to look at how I can improve my overall health in the process, and finding people that are willing. And to to listen and work with you to achieve that goal, and it's, and I feel like that's one of the big things that we do as a part of the work we do here at the the m, t, i, h community is, you know, we have advocates, we have practitioners, we have staff. We have people who are, you know, patients, who are stepping up and, you know, being advocates, even though they're not, you know, officially in that advocate role, I mean, they're helping people, you know, they are empowering people with knowledge. You know, the book alone is, is such a great resource. And, you know, and I hear patients all the time who are like, I buy this book in bulk, you know, because I've I've learned so so much from it, and so when friends are diagnosed with cancer, I give it to them so that they can read it, because I feel like that really can be such a great tool for people to to look at things differently, to help make that paradigm shift, but also empower them with some knowledge and data that can help them argue their case and help them be the best advocates for themselves or a loved one. You know, in those situations where they're getting that, you know, that that hesitance from from family and friends, from practitioners, from from people that you know it, and it's, you know, I tell people all the time, it's not their fault, you know, we it's the dialog that has been up until this point is is fairly limited in terms of, you know, what those opportunities are. And so our job is to help educate and provide the you know, the evidence that people need to start thinking of things differently. And so I you know, the prevention side of it for me is, you know, it always breaks my heart when you know we are kind of the last the last resort. People are coming because everything else has has failed them, and they have no other options. And my hope is that we can get more people on board with looking at their overall health and wellness before, before they get the diagnosis, you know? And that's actually something that I'm doing for myself, you know, I've gone through some testing, you know, that that we recommend just to start looking at my labs, looking at my labs in a different way. How can I start to really look at at my overall health and wellness and start making adjustments. I call it filling in the gaps, those gaps that I don't even know are there, you know, like, you know, I'm living my life. I'm healthy. I'm healthy. You know, as Nisha says, everyone's healthy,

17:32
everyone's healthy till they get a cancer diagnosis. Yeah, yeah.

17:36
But you know, I'm, I am in, I am in good health on the surface right now, but we all have gaps, and we all have things that we can work on. And so how can we just be aware of those things and start working on those things, you know, so that, hopefully, you prevent a diagnosis of cancer, of, you know, of of any sort of number of other metabolic diseases and metabolic dysfunctions that are, that are out there wreaking havoc on our on our health and healthcare systems. Yeah,

18:08
and I think what you're saying is so important. And you know, I know we've heard nature say before, I wish I would have called the book the metabolic approach to health instead of cancer, because I know I have people's friends, family, people who come to me all the time. Say, if I ever get cancer, you're the first person I'm going to call. I say, please don't wait till you get cancer. Please call me now. Like, let's work on prevention, because early detection is too late. Early detection you've already got cancer. So if we want to reduce the risk of recurrence, we've got to focus on metabolic health. If we want to improve chances of our outcomes. If we have active disease, we've got to focus on metabolic health. And I think you make a really interesting point that people come at the last resort, and I find that the mentality out there is a lot of have to choose one or the other. I have to choose complementary, alternate, they call it alternative care, or I have to choose standard of care. And I wish we could break through that wall and say they work together. It's complementary, integrative care, right? And and I'll have clients follow one side or the other. There are some people are like, I'm afraid of what you're talking about because I don't want to give up my treatment, my oncologist. I'm like, I would never in a million years ask you to give that up? That's not what this is about, right? Then other clients are like, I'm afraid of standard of care. I believe everything can happen naturally. And it's like, yeah, a lot can happen naturally, and medicine can save your life. So you know, can we be open to all the information, all the tools in this huge toolbox? Because it can only benefit us. So let's, I would love to talk about and make people aware some of the tools that are already available, as far as education opportunities, right? We've touched on that a little bit with advocates and practitioners, and I know there's something new coming up in the future as well. So people want to go that level. We've got grants a. Um, we've got a vision for an amazing facility. We've got a research institution. So will you fill us in on all that's going on behind the scenes for people to actually get support and available for those of us who have the resources and want to give to something that offers more support to people,

20:19
right? Right, right. You know, it's that we have so many things going on. And you know, Nisha has been told that she's trying to boil the ocean, trying to, trying to do all the things, you know, but, but truly, all of these things are necessary if we are going to make progress. And so, you know, one of the first things that we offer is educational programs like you mentioned. So you are an advocate. We have a train advocate program, which is for allied healthcare professionals, people who have an experience, have experiences in healthcare, who have some health help type, foundational knowledge. Because, as you can imagine, you know the the metabolic approach to cancer. If you've read the book, you know that there are lots of lots of different facets to this approach. And so if you don't have a, you know, a, at least, a foundational knowledge of health and nutrition, it can be very overwhelming. And so we really want people to come into that program with some knowledge so that they can really just kind of build, build on the tool set that they already have, and so that, that is a program that goes twice a year. We have two cohorts a year. We've trained hundreds of people in that program all over the world. And the beauty of that program, that's actually the first place, you know, if someone is interested in looking at their health, you know, from a metabolic perspective, either, you know, as a cancer patient or someone like you said, who really just wants to get a baseline, we always want people to kind of start with an advocate, you know, and especially for people in a cancering journey, just because, you know, to get in with a practitioner could take weeks, months. You know, the challenge that we have is we do have, you know, an education course for practitioners, who are, you know, kind of that next step in their journey, but they're, they're overwhelmed. There's not enough of them. You know, even though we've trained hundreds all over the world, the the case loads, unfortunately, with the cancer rates increasing our you know, their caseloads are too big, and so, you know, we want people to get started as quickly as possible. So we tell them, read the book, take the terrain 10, you know, start working with your advocate, so you can start working on the diet and lifestyle changes that you can make right right at the beginning. Like there are so many things that people can do again in a cancering process, or who are just trying to improve their overall health, things that they can do from the beginning that don't require a prescription, don't require, you know, any any specific treatments, things that you can can adjust that are going to allow you to start working towards that place of health and wellness and disease prevention. So, so that's one of the things we offer. And then, like I said, we also offer the practitioner course, and this is for people who are able to prescribe and who are, again, interested in taking their knowledge a little bit further in that metabolic approach to cancer and how they can treat their patients. And so that's another program, two core, two cohorts a year. Both of those programs are online and kind of self paced. I mean, you have, like, a year to kind of finish everything, but it's, it's really when you can do the course. I'm currently in the advocate course myself and working towards, you know, really using that knowledge for all the people that come to you know. Mt, ih, as an organization, how can I help guide them to an advocate that might be a good fit, you know, to a practitioner that might be a good fit. But both, like I said, both programs are about a 12 month program. We have flexible payment options and just really great for people who are in the healthcare area already and want to dance their knowledge in metabolic the metabolic approach to cancer, health and wellness. And next year, we're very excited about this. We are going to be launching a program that is more patient centered, patient focused. And so be looking for that information early 2025 this will be again, a self paced course for those people that have read the book and are ready to take their knowledge to that next level. So really kind of diving into some things that are that are on that patient, patient centered side, caregiver centered side, so that people can continue to just to learn and grow and refine their approach. And that's really what I see is, you know, a great thing, great thing for the and it just it helps people, again, take charge of their health. It's all about taking charge of your health. And so the more tools that we can give you as a patient, as a caregiver, that will make you feel empowered and feel like you have the resource. Resources and knowledge that you need to advocate for yourself and to make changes, then the better off we're all going to be.

25:06
What would be a comparison, Lynn, between the advocate course and the new coming patient centered course. And would the patient centered or patient focused course be comparable to a patient working with an advocate? How would you make that comparisons?

25:22
You know, I think it. I think there are. I would say that the patient course is going to be the first step. I really feel like the advocates are, are going to help patients refine their approach even further. You know, I think there are things that are, you know, anytime you look at educational courses, especially at that, you know, patient centered, caregiver focused level. I mean, you we as we as healthcare individuals, there's only so much you can do, in a general sense. So, you know what? I mean, like in Nature says this all the time. It's like, you know, I really people are asking for specific help with specific tumor types, specific medications, specific this, that and the other. And she's like, I'm not going to tell you anything without the data. I need to look at your labs. I need to look at, you know, like, I need to know who you are as a person, you know. I need to know all. I need to have all the data in front of me, and so I'm not going to give you a specific recommendation. And so, you know, again, I feel like, you know, the the patient centered course is going to give people some tools that will help them refine their approach, of course, but really the advocates and the practitioners, that's where you really start to make those, those though you use, that's where you really start gathering more data that can be interpreted in ways that can help take that approach to the next level. So,

26:47
and I love that, and this is one thing I love so much as an advocate and as a person who's managing cancer in my life, is that when you know what attracted me originally to become an advocate was nation's philosophy of test assess, don't guess, right? That's what brought me in, because I saw, you know, when I got a stage four diagnosis, like everyone else, I panicked first, and went, Oh my God, what do I do? What am I supposed to eat? And then it was like, do I be a vegan? Do I be a carnivore? Do I what do I do? What do I do? And I started to see that, wow. You know, some people just offer, here's the diet. This diet heals everybody. And it was like, that doesn't make sense to me, right? How do I know that that's going to work for me? And I tried some before coming here, and they didn't work for me. In fact, some made it worse. So for me, what I love is I get to offer my clients tools that say, I can help you clear up the confusion. I can help you see with your nutrition genome or your genetics. I can help you see what your body actually needs with your labs, we can see where those genes are expressing. We could literally answer the question, What am I supposed to do and alleviate some of the fear and confusion that, to me, is just as a person, again, managing cancer and working with people to help them and support them in alleviating the confusion and fear that's just priceless, right, right? And so valuable to know that someone wants to know, not only on the lab and physical level, but a deep emotional intake process as well, yes.

28:23
And that's yes, yes. And you are so right, you know, it's, it's, we are all individual people. And, you know, we talk a lot about bio individuality, and, you know, and you're right, you know, that's one of the dangers of, you know, the world that we live in. And these message boards and you know people saying, well, this worked for me, and you should try it. You know, without really knowing all the details of, you know where that person lives, what they what they consume in terms of food, air, water. You know what their genetics look like. You know, there are so many things that you know you really do need that, that that person and things change so you know your labs and your your testing is a, it's a, it's a snapshot of of this moment in time, you know, and things will change based on where you live and what your your mental and emotional state is at that time. What kind of stress do you have on your plate, everything, what

29:22
you've been eating for the last two weeks,

29:24
exactly, exactly what you've been eating, where you've been eating it, where is it coming from? You know, there, there are so many different factors that you know that's really where the, like I said, the advocates and the practitioners you know, work with you and and continue to grow with you as you're as everything changes. We all, we all evolve in different ways, some in good, some good ways, some positive ways, and some that you know create some hiccups that you know need to, need to be addressed, but you know the the advocates and the practitioners. Nerds are that, that support system that can can really help you figure out, you know, when things start to go awry, when you're not feeling well, when, when your labs start to get a little wonky. Like, okay, what's going on? Like, I remember, I heard a story, you know, about a patient who had had great labs and was getting her meat from a certain source. And, you know, and then all of a sudden, her her lab started to look a little off. And so come to find out that her good quality meat source had been purchasing poor quality meats. And, you know, and so, like, there are things like that that, you know, it's like, there, it's, it's really, you know, I joked with Dr Nisha that we should do a little series called the disease detective. Because, like, I feel like you're all little detectives who are just, you know, trying to figure out, like, Okay, what's going on here. And, you know, and sometimes the clues are really hard to find, and finding the, you know, like you're connecting all of these dots and trying to figure out what's, what's the, what's the big picture here? What does this look like, you know, at that at that level. And it's, it's honestly beautiful to watch, and it's, it's an art, it's a science, for sure, you know. And it's a delicate balance of trying to help people get healthy and not overwhelm them in the process, yes, yes, yes,

 

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