Mike Capuzzi:

Welcome back to another episode of the Author Factor Podcast. My guest today is Dr. Matt Archer. Doctor Matt took a skeptical approach to manual muscle testing, applied kinesiology, and chiropractic, and developed an incredibly effective system, which he describes in his first book, The Protocol For Health, 7 Unexpected Solutions. While often contrary to popular ideas, the protocol has a sensible foundation that simplifies health care and is effective with the full spectrum of symptoms. Dr. Matt, welcome to the show.

Dr. Matt Archer:

Thanks, Mike.

Mike Capuzzi:

I was looking forward to this. I'm very interested to hear what you had to say about your book and your author journey. But, before we jump into that, Matt, can you share a little bit more about your background and how you serve folks today and what you know, how you serve them and exactly what you're doing with them?

Dr. Matt Archer:

Yeah. So my mom became a chiropractor when I was in junior high, and she clearly helped me with a bunch of issues over the years. She studied a technique called applied kinesiology that is controversial. The studies don't show that it's reproducible or accurate for identifying things like food allergies or vitamin and mineral deficiencies or things like that. But there are a lot of practitioners who use applied kinesiology and other systems of manual muscle testing, who are clearly able to help people, and it was clear to me that she had helped me with issues over the years, back pain, international parasites from traveling, and a variety of things like that. So when I finally decided to study, applied kinesiology when I was in chiropractic school, Pretty early on, I put my hand up and I said, man, this muscle testing does not seem very clear. I'd like to start with a clear baseline before starting to try to get answers about all these complex issues. And the teacher didn't like me very much, but he did give me some interesting answers.

Dr. Matt Archer:

And, it sent me in a different direction, and it put quite a few year it took quite a few years to put it all together. But now we're able to zero in on what I believe are some of the greatest blind spots in health care. And it was in the course of writing my book that I really realized that when I started researching other forms of food allergy or food sensitivity testing or testing for vitamin and mineral deficiencies or testing the gut microbiome or issues like The, where I realized, wow, laboratory tests really can't do that accurately. And that's surprising because there's so many places where modern medicine is so clearly remarkable, and yet just getting an answer about what should we eat and what shouldn't we eat. And the gut microbiome that's connected to so many health issues, like, basically, all chronic issues and inflammation, Really, you know, what's going on there with lab testing, and then the treatments of probiotics or new and unusual ways to boost and benefit the gut microbiome. It just there's none of none of the results there are all that impressive. So my skeptical approach to muscle testing is about first, establishing a clear foundation of strong versus weak, and it's not about timing, which is true of most muscle testing. It's simple muscle strength.

Dr. Matt Archer:

It's really obvious. It's fun to demonstrate with, big strong people on the table, because it's a difference of most of my weight on a leg versus The finger, and able to beat that same leg, making sure that they start first rather than the subtleties of timing. And when answers are that clear, then you stop chasing peripheral components, and you zero in on the things that really matter. And it turns out way more of us are reacting to common foods, and most people have issues with the gut Mike. And weak stomach acid due to zinc deficiency is a universal issue. And blood sugar handling is a big deal, and it means the opposite of intermittent Factor. And, you know, there's lots of places where I'm contrary to a lot of the current solutions, but, the results that we get are so consistent. It's really hard to express it other than to say, in the last 8 or 9 years since I've really gotten the protocol dialed in, we just don't miss.

Dr. Matt Archer:

If people will hang in there with me for 88 weeks and follow-up a few times during that and try the protocol, then the whole spectrum of symptoms we see at least dramatic improvement, and we often are able to eliminate a lot of different symptoms. So there's all sorts of issues that I don't claim to be able to treat, but we set conditions in the body so that people are just able to heal. And so, you know, people come in with issues. There's things that people don't even tell me about. They say, oh, yeah. Great. My back pain cleared up, but I didn't even tell you about my anxiety and depression, and they're dramatically better too. And how is that possible? And I think it's possible when you're truly treating causative issues and not just treating peripheral issues.

Dr. Matt Archer:

So there's a there's a long answer to that question.

Mike Capuzzi:

So you decided to write this book about 2 years ago. Correct?

Dr. Matt Archer:

Well, I decided to write this book about 8 years ago.

Mike Capuzzi:

Yes. Let me ask you. You got it published 2 years ago.

Dr. Matt Archer:

Yeah. Yeah. Pretty good. And the book that I would have written 8 years ago, it wouldn't have been the same book by any means. I mean, there were there were more pieces that came together during that Mike, but, but it was about 8 years ago that I got kind of the last most important piece that helped me to get a lot of the peripheral kind of noise out of the way and zero in on the things that really matter.

Mike Capuzzi:

Okay. So let's talk about the protocol for health. Published 2 years ago. Thought about it 8 years ago, which is oftentimes a very common journey. I'd love to hear a bit more about why you decide to write that book. And then let's dive into the book a bit, Matt, and describe who should read it because we want to encourage our listeners to, you know, grab a copy. And if you could, just a tip or 2 from the book to entice that.

Dr. Matt Archer:

Okay. So why I decided to write it is The, well, the one biggest thing was that the results that I was getting in practice were so consistently phenomenal that I felt like I was sitting on some huge secret that everybody needed to know about. You know, like, I'd go on to, you know, chat rooms or that's not quite the right term, you know, online communities where people were dealing with weird specialized conditions. And now that I'd seen plenty of people with those kind of conditions where we'd resolve the issue in 8 weeks or less. And it just started to feel it just didn't feel right not to share it all and put it all out there because people should know that there really are some simple solutions that are incredibly effective. So that was part of the motivation. Part of the motivation is that I'm a chiropractor, and I don't do a lot that looks like chiropractic. And I borrow a lot from a technique called applied kinesiology The I think has some really big fundamental flaws to it, but also some great components to it that can be used.

Dr. Matt Archer:

So, and I live in a small town that's supersaturated with alternative health. So to be heard in that environment isn't easy when I'm saying you should try these things that are completely different, and you should come to me for issues that you would normally never go to a chiropractor for. And, you know, it's tricky to be heard with all that. You know, like, I tried, back some years ago, I ran a small study out of out of my office just to show the link between, cow dairy cow dairy product consumption and low back pain. And the results that we got were phenomenal. I didn't adjust those people or do anything with them other than and just other than just have them eliminate dairy, but the results were really fantastic. And it turns out reaction to milk proteins is one very big cause of chronic low back pain, which is surprising, but it's easy to demonstrate with the kind of work that I do. And then it's easy for people to run that experiment, and a lot of people go, oh, man.

Dr. Matt Archer:

If I take dairy out of my diet, I stop having low back pain. I think an even bigger cause of low back pain is something that I describe as chronic infection. And so, you know, there's lots of aspects of my book that I could I mean, you know, the protocol for health, 7 unexpected solutions. So there's these 7 pieces that I could, you know, we could go over any or all of those, and we don't have the time, of course, to go through all of those. But, you know, in terms of simple pieces to express quickly, it's easy to say, you know, walking 40 minutes a day, 5 or 6 days a week is the one simplest thing that we could all do for our health. You know, we walked for a 1000000 of years, and now most of us don't. And short trips or repeated short trips, like what a waiter or a carpenter does, are not the same thing. So it's not about your total steps.

Dr. Matt Archer:

It's about gently elevating the heart rate. So that's one piece of the protocol. Keeping your blood sugar really stable by eating 3 main meals and a couple protein snacks, and never going more than 3 hours in the busy part of the day without protein and never having caffeine on an empty stomach and not doing caffeine in excess, also a pretty simple piece that people can run that experiment. Although if you have weak stomach acid, which basically everyone does, then sometimes eating frequent protein doesn't work very well. So those are, you know, those are simpler pieces of the protocol. The biggest, most complicated, but most foundational, most important piece of the protocol is strengthening stomach acid and clearing what I describe as chronic intestinal infection. So I'm quite certain that everyone has weak stomach acid due to zinc deficiency. And it's not as simple as just taking a zinc supplement, because once we have weak stomach acid, it's darn near impossible to adequately absorb and not only absorb into the blood, but move from the blood into the tissues all of our basic nutrients The zinc and calcium and b 12 and magnesium and all those things.

Dr. Matt Archer:

And, you know, I didn't realize what a big blind spot that was in modern medicine until you start looking into the use of calcium supplements and you realize, oh, no one has proven that calcium supplements accomplish any of the things that we take them for because modern medicine can't figure out how to get calcium pathogens from moving past the stomach acid into the intestine and creating what I call chronic intestinal infection, which I'm quite confident that at this point, almost everyone in our country or at least everyone with significant symptoms has some form of chronic intestinal infection. And it causes a pattern of muscle weakness of the hip flexors, which is what causes the opposing tension in the low back that causes most low back pain. And it also causes weakness in the pectoralisternal muscles, which is a big part of what causes The upper back and neck tension and pain that people think is just normal or driven by their stress or their position or all those other things. But we consistently get to the bottom of those issues when we clear chronic intestinal infection, which we can do with a 3 week course of some special digestive enzymes taken 3 times a day away from food so that rather than digesting your food, like most enzymes are designed to do, they are digesting out whatever it is that's living in the gut that shouldn't be there. And when you combine that with the other pieces of protocol, we solve really complicated, really terrible digestive issues, as well as simple digestive issues, as well as chronic low back pain and chronic upper back pain, as well as allergies and hormone issues. And I could describe how they relate to all these issues in in specifics, but that ends up being a pretty long story, and that's why I wrote my book. Right.

Mike Capuzzi:

So, Pat, someone's listening to this. Now you shared a lot, and I get that it is a short conversation. But the goal is just to get people to be aware of you and your philosophy, your protocol, and let them make the decision to get the book and then work with you, whatever. You wrote the book for who? You know, tell me an ideal reader for your book. He or she is experiencing what? What are they feeling? Because, obviously, you didn't write the book for everybody, though maybe everybody could benefit from it. But

Dr. Matt Archer:

Yeah. How do

Mike Capuzzi:

I know that this book is right for me?

Dr. Matt Archer:

Yeah. I mean, honestly, that's probably a weak link in my messaging, is that, you know, you're supposed to 0 in and create your ideal target audience. Well, okay. I do have an ideal target audience, and that's people who are dealing with any health issue or any pain and are open to an alternative solution that actually makes quite a bit of sense, and that they actually haven't heard before. And there's someone who's, you know, fairly capable and motivated, because the protocol is challenging, you know. If we identify that someone's reacting to corn, and unfortunately, a lot of people are reacting to corn, then that means getting the corn out of not only all your food, which includes you know, most people don't realize that citric acid, is made from black mold grown on a GMO corn mash. And most people don't realize that vitamin c isn't really vitamin c. It's a chemical called ascorbic acid made from GMO corn syrup, usually processed in China, and that these things and other chemical forms of corn go into most supplements, almost I mean, all multivitamins and most supplements and most things in a jar or a can.

Dr. Matt Archer:

And so and personal care products and even the amount in, you know, some of the alternative healthy versions of toothpaste that has got 3 or 4 different kinds of corn in it. So it's, you know, it's challenging if you're actually reacting to that food. And I never would have realized how big of a difference such small quantities can make, but my patients just prove it over and over. So, okay, so I'm kind of spinning off. So Let me ask you this. Let me

Mike Capuzzi:

let me interrupt The for one second.

Dr. Matt Archer:

Uh-huh. Okay. Good.

Mike Capuzzi:

You're located where?

Dr. Matt Archer:

So I'm in Northern California in a small town called Nevada City. We're located in between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. And so working with people in person is certainly ideal, but I also work with people remotely, you know, as a as a health coach. And we can do a lot that way for sure. I mean, yes, The muscle testing that we do in the office, that kind of instantaneous feedback is pretty remarkable, and really does reveal some incredible blind spots. But doing that over and over with 100 and 100 of people, it becomes pretty predictable. Although, I there certainly are times when I surprise myself, and that's great. But with that, we can still do really well working with people remotely.

Dr. Matt Archer:

So yeah. I mean,

Mike Capuzzi:

and I'm sure, you know, especially after the book has been published, I mean, there is that opportunity to, you know, potentially work with someone in Pennsylvania, for example. Yeah. And then, you know, I think I was just sharing. I saw a video recently where someone traveled from one state to another just to go visit a chiropractor who does a special procedure. So it's you know? Yeah. Obviously, if someone's generous enough, they'll head to North Cali, Northern California. Let's talk a little bit just because we've I've gotta watch our time. But you published The book 2 years ago.

Mike Capuzzi:

Can you describe I mean, has it been beneficial to you in your practice? Where do you see, you know, the impact? Let me before I ask that question, tell me a little bit more about when you got the book when you finished the book, what did you end up doing with it right away? Was there did you to get the word out there?

Dr. Matt Archer:

Well, it was, you know, it was kind of, like, right after COVID and all of that Mike, so that the timing wasn't great for releasing it. But, you know, clearly, what it has been is super helpful for my patients in further understanding how and why I put all this together and why it really is a unique solution. It certainly has, you know, ended up in the hands of people who were, you know, a long ways away and found the book, and it made sense to them, and they came and saw me, and we were able to resolve their issues. So that's, you know, it is doing what it was designed to do. It's not on the scale that I want it to be as of yet. You know, honestly, what I've done in terms of promotion around it is not very much. And, you know, in terms of balancing the rest of my life with writing and publishing the book, I got I got more work to do there. And a lot of that is coming together kind of as we speak, a YouTube channel that I'm building out and more outreach on social media and all that kind of stuff.

Dr. Matt Archer:

So I've got some you know, I've got a great video up on my website that demonstrates the muscle testing. And a better video with, you know, random volunteers in in a gym is what I'm about to make The I think will be, pretty fantastic. A neat way to demonstrate, you know, working with people I've never worked with before, and obvious changes that are pretty hard to deny, very easy to see through video. So that's the kind of outreach I'm up to. And, certainly, it has contributed a lot for the people who use it. And, yeah, it's it it's its effectiveness is has been great, and there's, of course, a lot more that I want for.

Mike Capuzzi:

There always is, Matt. It's always one of

Dr. Matt Archer:

those things. Yeah. You know?

Mike Capuzzi:

But I will tell you, again, based on your subject matter and the fact that you're a bit controversial, which I think really is one of the best reasons why someone should think about writing a book. If you have something that sounds different, that is different than what everyone else is saying, that is a great reason, in my opinion, to write a book. But I'm I have a client now. He's working with us to publish his second book, and he's an orthopedic surgeon. And his YouTube channel is just blowing up. I mean, it's amazing. He just started less than a year ago, but it's focused on a specific topic. And, you know, it just I just talked to him the other day, and it's he's already adjusting and saying, well, jeez.

Mike Capuzzi:

When I started this, I should have done a different show. But regardless, you know, I think there's a lot of opportunity in front of you. So, Matt, where is the best place our listeners can learn more about you? Where's the best place they can grab a copy of your book?

Dr. Matt Archer:

Archerchiropracticdot com is my website. There's also the protocol for health dot com, for the, and, you know, both are linked to each other. So archerchiropractic.com will lead you to the book. It'll lead you to our office. If people wanna work with me, in person or remotely, then all the contacts are there. And there's also that demonstration video, and there'll be more up there, within the next couple weeks, hopefully.

Mike Capuzzi:

Very good. Yeah. Well, Matt, thank you. I do appreciate your time today and, you know, all the insights you shared.

Dr. Matt Archer:

Well, likewise, Mike. I really appreciate it. Nice to have a good format to share with people.