Margaret was exposed to modern medicine through her mom having multiple autoimmune conditions. She suffered with things such as rheumatoid arthritis, pulmonary fibrosis, and lupus. On top of all that, her mom had cancer, but it was considered a lesser concern given all that she was already struggling with.

Even though the medications helped, and kept her mother alive, they degraded her body over time and damaged her immune system. Even small things such as a hangnail would turn into massive infections that needed hospitalizations and IV antibiotics.

When Margaret started struggling with her own autoimmune issue in the form of eczema, she knew she wanted to do things differently. She didn’t want to be using cortisone cream at all, but especially not on places like her eyelids where she had eczema as well.

Margaret was referred to a naturopath by a friend of hers. The naturopath helped her identify food sensitivities and gut issues. Three weeks into starting her protocol, the eczema went away and hasn’t come back.

Margaret came to a place in her life where she was at a crossroads and decided to pursue education in nutrition through the Nutritional Therapy Association. She was completely enamored with everything she was learning and couldn’t wait to start helping clients. Margaret had found her calling.

She recalls a time when she was working with a client who had myasthenia gravis, which is an autoimmune condition that affects neuromuscular function. This client’s case was affecting her breathing. The client was receiving a treatment that she was actually allergic to because it was the only thing that would give her relief from her condition, for a couple of months anyway.

Margaret goes on to explain that the immune system lives in and around the gut and gut health is paramount to overall immune function. You don’t want the immune system under reacting or overreacting because both of those scenarios are bad.

If the immune system is constantly engaged and stressed, it starts to make bad decisions.

Margaret Floyd-Barry

So, she started this client on a gut healing protocol. Her client was very motivated and followed her protocol well. Her client hit six and then eight months with no symptoms. In fact, she didn’t have symptoms for two and a half years, but did have a flare-up after receiving the covid vaccine.

However, the client was so encouraged and intrigued by the work, that she is now training to be a nutritional practitioner herself.

Even though Margaret was seeing amazing results with most of her clients, she was still struggling with some clients who had complex autoimmune issues, like her mom did. This, of course, was who Margaret was most passionate about helping.

Margaret met a woman named Ann Fischer Sliva while co-teaching a nutrition program. Ann had amazing results with clients, even the complex ones. She was utilizing labs to help with her clients and learning how to use them from a functional perspective. Ann was considering teaching others some of her tests and protocols that she was using. Margaret encouraged her to do so and also signed up to be in her first round of training.

From there, Maragaret’s practice took off, and she was seeing great results with clients she had been stuck with previously. What Ann had taught increased Margaret’s confidence and skill set dramatically.

Within a couple of years, Margaret was teaching alongside Ann in the Restorative Wellness Solutions program. Margaret even started helping Ann with further development of the curriculum. When Ann decided to pursue other interests, she asked Margaret to take over for her.

Margaret is passionate about putting these tools into other healthcare practitioner’s hands, so they can see these amazing results with their clients as well. She explains that the Restorative Wellness Solutions program is for someone who has already dipped their toe into the health and wellness field, whether that be as a health coach, or a licensed health professional. She reports that many nurses and dieticians have gone through the program.

The program has 4 levels. Each level is a 12-week intensive with focused learning and mentoring. The levels cover:

Level 1: This is the foundational level and focuses on the anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal tract and digestion. It dives deep into what healthy function looks like and what dysfunction looks like as well. Then the module covers labs such as the GI Map, SIBO testing, and also food sensitivity testing.

From there, practitioners can choose between:

Adrenal and Hormones: This intensive covers dried urine testing (also known as the DUTCH test), and salivary testing. This covers what to look for at different stages of life, cycling hormones, and peri and post menopausal hormones as well as bone health.

Blood Chemistry: This module covers blood chemistry from a functional perspective. You’ll be taking a look at things such as blood sugar handling, cardiovascular health, kidneys, adrenal, liver, gall bladder and immune function. This module also covers things such as nutritional deficiencies, hydration and different types of anemia.

The final level is a capstone project which covers the art and science of clinical mastery. This dives deep into complex health issues such as genetics, autoimmune issues, environmental toxins, and neurological health. This module puts all the pieces together to handle the more complex cases.

Each of the modules is an intensive that lasts twelve weeks and has a group of practitioners going through it at the same time. The program boasts a completion rate of 95%, which is quite high. If you are a healthcare practitioner looking to further your education, or step outside traditional healthcare, check out the Restorative Wellness Solutions program and see if it might be a good fit for your goals.

Get to know Maragret:

The weirdest thing eaten: chicken kidney

Drink of choice: Americano with a splash of heavy cream

Superpower of choice: mind-reading

Follow Margaret: Website • Instagram • Facebook

Also mentioned in this episode: Pluck Seasoning

Pluck is a seasoning company founded by Margaret’s husband, James, who is a chef. Not only are these seasonings delicious, but they pack a punch of nutritional value because they contain organ meats, but are undetectable! Check out Pluck here.