Dec. 31, 2024
Take Control Of Your Life and Embrace the Power of Lifestyle Medicine—A Must-Listen for Vibrant Living!
Step into the world of vibrant living as Angel Shannon, a board-certified nurse practitioner and expert in lifestyle medicine, reveals how to take control of your health and thrive in midlife. In this episode, we explore personalized, holistic approaches that go beyond pills and surgeries to help you live a life full of energy and purpose.
Discover the importance of foundational health screenings, evidence-based care, and stress management strategies that can revolutionize your quality of life. Learn how to protect your immune health, tackle chronic stress, and take control of your well-being—especially crucial for African-American communities.
Angel also talks about:
• Importance of quality of life over mere longevity
• Role of integrative medicine in personalized health
• Necessity of education for self-advocacy
• Key questions to ask healthcare providers
• Impact of stress management on overall health
• Strategies to enhance immune resilience in midlife
• Prioritizing health investments over material goods
• Embracing aging as an opportunity for growth and connection why investing in your health is the best decision you’ll ever make, offering tips to transform your mindset and daily habits.
Tune in now and start your journey to a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life!
Bio of Guest
Angel V. Shannon MS, CRNP is a keynote speaker, board-certified nurse practitioner, and founder of Seva Health and The Seva Institute. With over two decades of clinical practice and a lifetime of study in integrative health and mind-body medicine, she delivers inspiring presentations that empower audiences to build health-focused practices for personal and professional growth.
As a certified hatha yoga teacher and T’ai Chi Chuan practitioner, Angel integrates ancient wisdom into her clinical and coaching work. In 2019, she founded the Seva Institute to bring mindfulness-based stress reduction workshops into corporate settings, fostering resilience and embodied leadership.
A University of Maryland graduate and member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Angel combines science and storytelling to share success stories of individuals who have improved their physical and mental health. She also hosts the podcast Healthy House Calls With Angel, offering practical strategies for thriving with lifestyle medicine.
Learn more about Angel Shannon at her website www.sevahealthgroup.com or follow her on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/angelvshannon and on FB at facebook.com/sevahealthgroup
We hope you have enjoyed this episode. Please like, comment, subscribe, and share the podcast.
To find out more about Lynnis and what is going on in the V.I.B.E. Living World please go to https://link.tr.ee/Lynnis
Join the V.I.B.E. Wellness Woman Network, where active participation fuels the collective journey toward health and vitality. Subscribe, engage, and embark on this adventure toward proactive well-being together.
Go to https://www.vibewellnesswomannetwork.com to join.
We have wonderful events, courses, challenges, guides, blogs and more all designed for the midlife woman who wants to keep her V.I.B.E. and remain Vibrant, Intuitive, Beautiful, and Empowered after 40+.
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If you would like to be a guest on the V.IB.E. Living Podcast please email me lynnis@vibewellnesswoman.com.
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Chapters
00:01 - Exploring Integrative Wellness in Midlife
10:55 - Empowering Women Through Health Education
22:07 - Prioritizing Health and Wellness Investment
Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.871
What do you think we need to be thinking about when we look at the idea of?
00:00:05.192 --> 00:00:10.305
aging, first and foremost, education Education I have on my website.
00:00:10.305 --> 00:00:12.492
Change your life, not just your symptoms.
00:00:12.492 --> 00:00:14.826
Live longer and live better.
00:00:14.826 --> 00:00:20.748
For me it's about it's not just about you know diagnosis, it's also about quality of life.
00:00:20.748 --> 00:00:24.731
What is the point of making it to 90 or 95 or 100?
00:00:24.731 --> 00:00:31.512
And then you're dependent on 15 different medications with all kinds of different side effects and all this kind of thing.
00:00:56.884 --> 00:00:57.886
Hi, I'm Linus Woods Mullins.
00:00:57.886 --> 00:01:06.816
Hi, I'm glennis woods mullins and I love to help women to vibe, to be more vibrant, intuitive, beautiful and empowered in midlife.
00:01:06.816 --> 00:01:21.939
So come the topic that we talk about, and we try to approach it in different ways, because there's just so much that happens during this particular time in life, and one of the things I think that's going on right now is just a sense of overwhelm in the wellness industry.
00:01:21.939 --> 00:01:23.983
There's so many different things.
00:01:23.983 --> 00:01:42.167
Now, in a friend of mine just the other day and I know she was trying to be positive and sharing she did a posting on social media of her medical team, her nutritionist, her low-holistic practitioner, her surgeon, her orthopedic person, her fitness person.
00:01:42.167 --> 00:01:45.423
I think she had about six people whose pictures she took and they said this is my team.
00:01:45.423 --> 00:01:46.826
And I thought, wow, that's great.
00:01:46.846 --> 00:01:51.126
But I also thought someone's going to read this and think, oh my God, first of all, I can't afford that.
00:01:51.427 --> 00:01:53.453
Second of all, do I really need to do that?
00:01:53.453 --> 00:01:57.804
And so it really brings to mind what is it that you need and what kinds of things do you need to be considering?
00:01:57.804 --> 00:02:05.352
Well, we're going to ask Angel Shannon to help us with this, because she specializes in lifetime medicine.
00:02:05.352 --> 00:02:31.405
She is an MSCRNP and is a personal development keynote speaker and board certified nurse practitioner, and she's also founder of SEVA Health and the SEVA Institute and she loves to do presentations and talk to women about ways that they can integrate their healthcare and focus on a mind, body, spirit approach and basically focus on what's going on in their lifestyle, what things they need to tweak in their lifestyle to be healthy.
00:02:31.405 --> 00:02:38.901
So I thought you'd be a good person to talk about all these different things that are going on, that we do and all our options, and help us make some decisions on what we really need.
00:02:38.901 --> 00:02:42.545
Angel, thank you so much for being on the Vibe Living podcast.
00:02:42.545 --> 00:02:44.308
It's wonderful to have you here today.
00:02:45.009 --> 00:02:47.693
Linus, thank you so very much for the invitation.
00:02:47.693 --> 00:02:50.784
I'm grateful to be here and grateful to have this conversation.
00:02:51.026 --> 00:02:51.687
Well, thank you.
00:02:51.687 --> 00:02:58.461
You know, it was just a coincidence that yesterday I happened to be on and I saw my friend post all these and my first thought was.
00:02:58.461 --> 00:03:04.045
My first thought was like, wow, I mean, I have access to those people, but they're not necessarily on my team.
00:03:04.045 --> 00:03:08.189
I just have my one integrative doc and if something comes up then I'll get somebody else.
00:03:08.189 --> 00:03:10.991
But I think it's great, though, that she has people looking after her.
00:03:10.991 --> 00:03:16.356
But what is it that we really need in midlife, because our bodies are going through so much transition?
00:03:16.356 --> 00:03:23.506
And when we're talking about lifestyle medicine, what is that?
00:03:23.506 --> 00:03:26.350
What's the difference between lifestyle medicine and maybe what I might get at my integrative doc or my OBGYN?
00:03:27.051 --> 00:03:32.342
Oh my gosh, these are such wonderful questions and I want to dive right in.
00:03:32.342 --> 00:03:43.647
First and foremost, kudos to you for being so adept with all of these different terms, because they are used interchangeably, sometimes to a fault.
00:03:43.647 --> 00:03:47.114
So I would like to make some clarifications on that first.
00:03:47.114 --> 00:03:52.092
The other thing is being so keen to integrative medicine.
00:03:52.092 --> 00:03:56.651
Let's just dive in right there, because integrative isn't a specialty.
00:03:56.651 --> 00:04:00.290
You don't go to school and get a degree in being integrative.
00:04:00.290 --> 00:04:02.687
Integrative is more of an approach.
00:04:02.687 --> 00:04:07.322
It's how you approach the patient or the client in front of you.
00:04:08.002 --> 00:04:16.752
Integrative just means that you are going to what I say is marry the best of western medicine with the best of the eastern approaches.
00:04:16.752 --> 00:04:19.201
So we're talking and and lifestyle approaches.
00:04:19.201 --> 00:04:20.382
So what does that mean?
00:04:20.382 --> 00:04:33.163
That means that if there is something clinically allopathic that we need to treat allopathically, a disease state, we're not going to not work that up, we're going to do all of the things.
00:04:33.163 --> 00:04:49.274
Let's just say there's a breast lump or there's a something that we could think could be cancerous, of course we're going to use allopathic methods to do blood work, to do screenings, to do all of the things that we know are evidence-based science.
00:04:49.274 --> 00:04:53.627
But then when we get to making the specific diagnosis.
00:04:53.627 --> 00:04:57.113
Then we get to talk about how are we going to treat this.
00:04:57.113 --> 00:04:58.987
Are we going to treat this with surgery?
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Are we going to provide some acupuncture for pain relief?
00:05:02.670 --> 00:05:10.771
Are we going to use supplements to boost the immune system and help the immune system as we undergo radiation or other therapies?
00:05:11.151 --> 00:05:21.105
So integrative just means that we're going to marry different modalities together so that we help the body heal itself right.
00:05:21.105 --> 00:05:26.401
So we're never going to divorce ourselves from what we know is good, solid clinical science.
00:05:26.401 --> 00:05:34.165
But at the same time, we're not just going to take the approach that pills and surgery, pills and surgery, pills and surgery.
00:05:34.165 --> 00:05:43.192
We know that there are so many different ways for healing to happen in each individual, and that's the other thing about integrative medicine.
00:05:43.192 --> 00:05:48.129
It's all about understanding the patient, the individual in front of you.
00:05:48.129 --> 00:05:55.230
What are their religious practices, their religious beliefs, their spiritual beliefs, what is their lifestyle like?
00:05:55.230 --> 00:05:59.565
You know, what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for the other person.
00:05:59.565 --> 00:06:03.601
Yoga is not for everybody all the time.
00:06:03.601 --> 00:06:10.567
Some people are just not keen to doing those types of stretches and practices and will benefit more from Pilates.
00:06:10.567 --> 00:06:13.584
You know everyone doesn't need to do meditation.
00:06:13.663 --> 00:06:24.024
I used to say, oh, you should meditate, until I got really deep in the mental health world and realized that meditation is very difficult for some people, especially sitting meditation.
00:06:24.024 --> 00:06:43.468
So it's all about understanding, first and foremost, the person in front of you, realizing that this is a whole person and you have to take a whole person approach to managing their care, optimizing wellness and health, and not always being focused on disease.
00:06:43.468 --> 00:07:06.495
That really, to me, is the art of true medicine and the holistic, integrative approach, and there are lots and lots of practitioners out here who take that approach but don't necessarily have a degree per se in integrative medicine or some of the other buzzwords that are being used these days.
00:07:08.701 --> 00:07:22.165
Now, I'm sorry, go right ahead, angel Go ahead, yes, and to your point about lifestyle medicine, yes, that is a more popular subspecialty, I think, first identified by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, of which I'm a proud member.
00:07:22.165 --> 00:07:57.247
And basically what they really do, you know, focus on and get clinical providers to really hone in on, is the six key pillars of good health, which again falls under integrative, that integrative approach as well, which is, you know, stay moving, plant-based diet, primarily plant-based if you can sleep, you know, stress relief, stress management, avoiding toxic substances or substances that we know are harmful, or carcinogens, things like this.
00:07:57.247 --> 00:08:07.543
So they have a six pillar framework that really is in keeping with much of what I'm sure most good integrative providers focus on as well.
00:08:10.005 --> 00:08:10.185
You know.
00:08:10.185 --> 00:08:27.093
It's interesting because when you talk about integrative just within the last few years because I've been doing this for about 17 years and I've worked with a lot of different doctors and some of them I've known for that whole time and it's interesting how they began to change what they call their practice and many of them have moved to integrative.
00:08:27.093 --> 00:08:42.832
And also many of them are not working for traditional HMOs or PPOs or managed care, because it's hard to be integrative and work within that system because of the time constraints and the protocols and all that.
00:08:42.832 --> 00:08:58.394
And I know what I'm talking about, not because I'm a doctor, but in another life I was in charge of physician recruitment for an HMO and was involved in all of the administrative meetings with the hospital administrators and the head docs and all that kind of stuff.
00:08:58.796 --> 00:09:05.416
And back then, which was about 18 years ago, there was this big struggle about trying to figure out how to incorporate that.
00:09:05.416 --> 00:09:16.562
But there was also another disconnect with that, because integrative focus is really finding a solution based upon causation and not symptoms.
00:09:16.562 --> 00:09:23.966
And Western medicine is really about trying to find a way to get rid of the symptoms, but not necessarily causation.
00:09:23.966 --> 00:09:25.350
Causation might take more time.
00:09:25.350 --> 00:09:37.144
Also, if you get to causation, the idea of butts in beds it changes, which is one of the reasons why I decided to leave, because there was a real disconnect here, you know, in terms of healing.
00:09:37.144 --> 00:09:42.577
So, when it comes to working with women, what kinds of things do you do from a lifestyle perspective?
00:09:42.577 --> 00:09:50.659
What kind of questions do you ask them to kind of get to the root cause of some of the things that might be going on as a result of being a lifestyle practitioner?
00:09:51.264 --> 00:09:54.615
Yes, very great question and thank you for sharing your background.
00:09:55.304 --> 00:10:27.279
I celebrated my 31st year in clinical practice started out in ICU and trauma here in Baltimore and I'm originally from New York, so I know exactly what you're talking about with restructuring and this industry has changed many times over and you're absolutely right that many integrative practitioners have had to really come out of those HMOs and insurance-based services and service frameworks, because it's very difficult to diagnose and treat someone in 15 minutes.
00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:29.666
Most of us need a whole lot more time.
00:10:29.666 --> 00:10:37.168
The practice that I worked in when I first became a nurse practitioner we were upwards of 24 patients a day.
00:10:37.168 --> 00:10:41.100
That's a lot of people to try to see and treat and treat well.
00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:55.017
So my background is, as I said, icu trauma, worked in a major research institution here in Baltimore, seen a lot, learned a lot, know a lot and I know exactly what you're talking about.
00:10:55.745 --> 00:11:00.474
What do I focus on with my female population?
00:11:00.474 --> 00:11:02.716
First and foremost, education.
00:11:02.716 --> 00:11:07.712
Education I have on my website change your life, not just your symptoms.
00:11:07.712 --> 00:11:10.038
Live longer and live better.
00:11:10.038 --> 00:11:12.129
For me, it's not just about diagnosis.
00:11:12.129 --> 00:11:14.054
It about, you know, diagnosis.
00:11:14.054 --> 00:11:15.967
It's also about quality of life.
00:11:15.967 --> 00:11:26.736
What is the point of making it to 90 or 95 or a hundred and then you're dependent on 15 different medications with all kinds of different side effects and all this kind of thing.
00:11:26.736 --> 00:11:37.788
So on my website, I make it clear what our core values are trust, transparency and empowerment, and there's no better way to be empowered but through education.
00:11:37.788 --> 00:11:44.548
So I really like to hone in on and ask my female patients what do you already know?
00:11:44.548 --> 00:11:46.452
Where do you feel like your gaps?
00:11:46.452 --> 00:11:48.057
Are your gaps in learning?
00:11:48.057 --> 00:11:51.231
What do you feel like you just need some fine tuning in.
00:11:51.471 --> 00:11:55.253
I don't like to make the assumption that I'm the authority, because I really am not.
00:11:55.253 --> 00:11:58.455
You're the person who knows yourself better than anyone.
00:11:58.455 --> 00:12:01.975
You know what you need to know and you know what you don't know.
00:12:01.975 --> 00:12:05.354
So my role really is to be a partner in health.
00:12:05.354 --> 00:12:06.596
I'm not the expert.
00:12:06.596 --> 00:12:11.236
I'm the person who's going to hold your hand and we're going to find the information we need for you.
00:12:11.236 --> 00:12:18.789
So I start there and I always like to understand who's already on your team, so to speak.
00:12:18.789 --> 00:12:23.807
You know, as you mentioned about the person's post, about who's on their team.
00:12:23.807 --> 00:12:29.038
Well, depending on what they've got going on in their life, they may need those folks.
00:12:29.038 --> 00:12:39.159
But I think that understanding what you need and when and knowing, as you mentioned, that you have access to those people when you need them.
00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:42.966
Not necessarily checking in with them all the time, but you know.
00:12:42.966 --> 00:12:49.379
But knowing that if I need that that service is there is the kind of approach I like to take.
00:12:49.379 --> 00:12:52.936
So when I ask questions, I often ask who's on your team?
00:12:53.024 --> 00:12:58.370
Do you already have at least the folks we need to do your baseline screenings?
00:12:58.370 --> 00:13:00.491
You know your well woman care.
00:13:00.491 --> 00:13:02.714
Do you have someone that you're seeing for that?
00:13:02.714 --> 00:13:07.278
Do you have someone who's doing your GI care in the African-American population?
00:13:07.278 --> 00:13:17.812
And we know the numbers and the data on colon cancers and things like this data on colon cancers and things like this do you have someone who's doing those screenings?
00:13:17.812 --> 00:13:18.975
Because those screenings are really important.
00:13:18.975 --> 00:13:28.326
So I like to make sure that all of the bases are covered before we start talking about alternatives and sort of going off the beaten path with other things.
00:13:28.326 --> 00:13:34.938
Let's make sure we have the framework that your foundational needs are being taken care of.
00:13:34.938 --> 00:13:38.532
Labs are being done, screening labs are being done.
00:13:38.532 --> 00:13:47.220
Let's not talk about gut health until we know whether you're anemic or not, because anemia can turn into heart disease, heart disease into a heart attack.
00:13:47.220 --> 00:13:51.589
More women die of heart disease in the United States than any of the cancers.
00:13:51.589 --> 00:13:51.869
That's right.
00:13:51.869 --> 00:13:53.590
That's the number one killer Right in the United States than any of the cancers.
00:13:53.610 --> 00:13:54.071
That's right.
00:13:54.071 --> 00:13:54.831
That's the number one killer, right?
00:13:54.831 --> 00:14:23.270
So I like to make sure that screenings are done, team or framework is in place and that we cover the foundational bases first and foremost, and that we create a plan for that, not just doing that this year and then we're three years late on the mammogram or five years late on the colon screenings, like we get a specific plan of care that is personalized for each individual, based on where they are in life and you know, and what they, what they should be looking at.
00:14:24.274 --> 00:14:25.399
And that makes so much sense.
00:14:25.399 --> 00:14:30.490
But you know, many times people aren't even sure the questions to ask.
00:14:30.490 --> 00:14:32.273
In fact, many.
00:14:32.273 --> 00:14:41.581
If you're like in my age group I'm 67, I grew up that you go to the doctor's office and you might tell him the symptoms or whatever.
00:14:41.581 --> 00:14:45.010
Basically, he's basically telling you things you know, you're just listening.
00:14:45.451 --> 00:14:47.136
Over the years that began to change.
00:14:47.136 --> 00:15:05.315
My mom became more of an advocate and she would go in there with a pad and say this is what's going on and this is what I think is needed, because of some experiences that she had with the doctors minimizing the pain threshold or minimizing the symptoms or whatever.
00:15:05.315 --> 00:15:10.653
And so it taught me the importance of advocacy, of really letting the doctor know.
00:15:10.653 --> 00:15:22.534
And I always say to my clients if you're asking questions to doctors and they're getting a little hot under the collar behind it, then maybe you might want to consider getting another doctor, because we're supposed to ask questions.
00:15:22.534 --> 00:15:32.835
These are our bodies, our temples, the only ones that we have, and if we have a concern or something that we don't understand, you will not be able to do it, except for, as you mentioned earlier, education.
00:15:32.835 --> 00:15:41.438
So, given that, when it comes to education, what kinds of things do women, in particular women in the midlife range?
00:15:41.438 --> 00:15:44.173
What kinds of questions do they need to be asking their doctors?
00:15:44.173 --> 00:15:46.948
What kinds of things should they be advocating for?
00:15:47.890 --> 00:15:56.609
I absolutely love that you brought this up and I love your mom for having a little notepad and writing things down, because you have to take notes.
00:15:56.609 --> 00:16:12.667
You have to be your own best advocate and especially when you're in the insurance based services, where time is limited and whatnot and you don't want any errors, you don't want to say something and say, oh, I'm on such and such medication and no, that's not what you're actually taking.
00:16:12.667 --> 00:16:14.951
So you're absolutely right about that.
00:16:14.951 --> 00:16:21.767
I think the number one questions to ask any provider are what are the?
00:16:22.147 --> 00:16:27.678
you know evidence-based screenings that I should be having at this age or stage in my life.
00:16:27.678 --> 00:16:33.673
You know, and the best thing about where we are now, you can Google this all day long.
00:16:33.673 --> 00:16:42.225
Now I'm not talking about Google as in, you know, reading someone or listening to someone's TikTok or someone else's YouTube videos.
00:16:42.225 --> 00:16:44.668
I'm talking about Googling.
00:16:44.668 --> 00:17:00.655
The associations like the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, american Association of Clinical Gynecologists, the American Cardiology Association, always find what the clinical guidelines are that govern that particular specialty.
00:17:00.655 --> 00:17:04.288
So I say to ladies, sign up for these newsletters.
00:17:04.288 --> 00:17:15.519
Aarp, which is there's a really wonderful subset under AARP specifically for women of color that really focuses on what those screenings should be.
00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:19.271
I absolutely love AARP magazine.
00:17:19.352 --> 00:17:21.375
I was excited when I got my card.
00:17:21.375 --> 00:17:22.438
I signed up very.
00:17:22.438 --> 00:17:24.327
You know, I wasn't even turning 50.
00:17:24.327 --> 00:17:29.125
I guess the age is 50, maybe, but I signed up for it before I was even 50.
00:17:29.605 --> 00:18:01.276
So get yourself in the flow of information, don't just rely on asking Cleveland Clinic, and start like really creating a library for yourself and start with the first and foremost question.
00:18:01.276 --> 00:18:04.788
I am 55, 54, 50, you know, whatever.
00:18:04.788 --> 00:18:10.007
What are the screenings that I should be having, what are the tests that I should be having?
00:18:10.007 --> 00:18:12.256
And go an extra step and ask why?
00:18:12.256 --> 00:18:15.406
What would we be looking for in getting this screening?
00:18:15.406 --> 00:18:17.633
You know, linus, you'd be surprised.
00:18:17.633 --> 00:18:19.115
Well, maybe you wouldn't.
00:18:19.115 --> 00:18:26.048
I want to make any assumptions, but the number of women who aren't getting EKGs, who aren't getting echocardiograms.
00:18:26.048 --> 00:18:38.311
According to the American Cardiology Association, once you have the diagnosis of hypertension, you should be getting a 2D echo echocardiogram every two years.
00:18:38.311 --> 00:18:40.553
I believe that's what the last time I read it.
00:18:40.553 --> 00:18:47.357
Once a year my ladies get them, but at least every two years and at least a screening EKG.
00:18:47.357 --> 00:18:59.894
I teach all over the country and I tell you the number of women who have hypertension country and I tell you the number of women who have hypertension who have never had an echocardiogram or an EKG blows.
00:18:59.953 --> 00:19:08.367
I think that's probably pretty common because, I would bet you, when it comes to managed care and HMOs, it's not part of the protocol unless there's an event or something close to an event.
00:19:08.367 --> 00:19:14.335
Usually what happens in managed care is that it almost takes an event to start getting these.
00:19:14.335 --> 00:19:20.992
And I don't think we always do the best in our traditional medical care when it comes to preventive medicine, because they don't talk a whole lot about nutrition.
00:19:20.992 --> 00:19:35.278
And I have a friend who got really upset with me the other day because she was saying that I thought that I was saying that physicians aren't well-educated or qualified and I'm like no, I'm not saying that, I'm saying that they can only learn so much and nutrition is not part of their specialization.
00:19:35.278 --> 00:19:36.807
I mean it's you know.
00:19:36.807 --> 00:19:41.817
What they get may be the equivalent of a couple of semesters or something like that, or a few hours of nutrition.
00:19:41.817 --> 00:19:45.113
That does not make a nutritionist.
00:19:45.554 --> 00:19:46.355
That is a fact.
00:19:46.355 --> 00:19:47.686
That's a fact.
00:19:47.747 --> 00:20:11.115
I mean, it's not a criticism, it's a fact, but I think it's something that we as potential patients need to know so that if we have something that is driven by, basically, what we're putting in our mouth, then we know we need to talk with someone who is qualified in that area to help us with our healthy eating and doing the things that are necessary to make a difference in our outcomes when we're taking these tests.
00:20:11.565 --> 00:20:23.757
The other thing I've noticed with the traditional medicine is, as you said, you know, they don't have a tendency not to take into consideration the whole body for many, many reasons, but basically because that's not how they're trained.
00:20:24.125 --> 00:20:34.114
But there's so many other factors other than what's going on with the body in terms of spiritually, environmentally, our relationships make a difference, the amount of stress that you're under.
00:20:34.114 --> 00:21:05.801
I think what was really interesting this last a couple of years is what happened when the pandemic came, because I think it was very, very telling in terms of how unhealthy we really were, not to say that we would not have gotten COVID, but perhaps how our bodies reacted to it would not have been the same because, quite frankly, many of us have a compromised immune system and don't even know it and don't know how to fortify it, and it really doesn't take that much effort, but it does take education.
00:21:05.801 --> 00:21:17.419
So one of the things I wanted to ask you was, as we're approaching the flu season, which seems to be year round now what kinds of things can we do as midlife women, especially to fortify our immune system?
00:21:18.180 --> 00:21:29.895
Great question and I want to say one thing to your point about allopathic practitioners, in their defense, and that is they can't know everything.
00:21:29.895 --> 00:21:35.092
But what I think is important is to know what you don't know and be able to refer.
00:21:35.092 --> 00:21:47.316
There are lots of different, you know, one thing I love about where I live here in Maryland is I'm just surrounded by a lot of really, really good practitioners physicians, surgeons.
00:21:47.316 --> 00:21:53.772
You know we refer a lot to to our partners because that person can go deeper.
00:21:53.772 --> 00:21:59.894
Every person who rules in as a pre-diabetic for me automatically gets in diabetes education.
00:21:59.894 --> 00:22:06.384
So I think understanding what your lane is and being willing to refer out is really important.
00:22:06.384 --> 00:22:18.693
The other thing is on the consumer end, as healthcare consumers, we really have to start thinking above and beyond the frameworks of the HMO that you mentioned.
00:22:18.693 --> 00:22:30.576
Absolutely Many of them are rooted in cost containment and it does take an event, but there's nothing but nothing preventing us from paying for services on our own.
00:22:30.576 --> 00:22:38.682
And just as tires are not covered with your insurance policy, oil changes are not covered with your insurance policy.
00:22:38.682 --> 00:22:45.904
You wouldn't dream of driving that Mercedes Benz or that Audi out of the lot without getting those oil changes.
00:22:45.904 --> 00:22:48.410
So we as consumers have to.
00:22:48.410 --> 00:22:59.974
I'll say it plain we've got to step it up a notch and we've got to see that we make the investment in our health and well-being a priority, even if it means setting aside.
00:22:59.974 --> 00:23:02.597
I'm old enough to remember vacation savings clubs.
00:23:02.597 --> 00:23:03.184
I get my patients to say, hey, listen, I'm old enough to remember vacation savings clubs.
00:23:03.184 --> 00:23:22.511
I get my patients to say, hey, listen, I'm going to tuck away $50 a month or $100 or what have you, so that when the time comes that I have to see a practitioner that my insurance is not going to pay for, I'm not, you know, you know, saying I can't do that because the insurance doesn't pay for that.
00:23:22.511 --> 00:23:28.457
So I really try to drive my clients, and even my clients who I'm just a consultant to.
00:23:28.457 --> 00:23:45.692
I try to remind them that set these funds aside so that when we get down into the functional medicine stuff that it's clearly not going to be paid by insurance, you're not trying to figure out how to pay for these very necessary steps.
00:23:46.333 --> 00:23:55.673
To your point about immune health, neuroimmune well-being and endocrine well-being is my sweet spot and that is definitely my lane.
00:23:55.673 --> 00:24:19.906
And I say, before we even talk about supplements and food and all these other things, stress management, stress control, stress management, activating this parasympathetic nervous system, this relaxation response is the number one thing that I'm promoting in my patient population.
00:24:19.906 --> 00:24:25.054
We've got to rein in this stress, because what is cancer?
00:24:25.054 --> 00:24:38.645
Cancer is just one cell that doubles and triples and quadruples into a thing, a mass, a solid mass or a liquid thing, blood cancers and things like this.
00:24:38.645 --> 00:24:45.134
So reining in this stress is just such a major.
00:24:45.134 --> 00:24:46.795
It's so important.
00:24:46.795 --> 00:24:49.144
It's so important to immune health.
00:24:49.223 --> 00:24:50.527
And what do I mean by stress?
00:24:50.527 --> 00:24:59.942
I mean going to sleep at night, shutting down these devices, turning off these phones and literally giving your body that chance to reset.
00:24:59.942 --> 00:25:06.006
There's a lot that goes on in your immune system while you are sleeping, in your brain.
00:25:06.006 --> 00:25:12.924
Your brain is actually through the glial cells in the brain, sweeping out debris, getting rid of trash.
00:25:12.924 --> 00:25:20.188
You know your interleukins, all those white blood cells, all that stuff is being regulated while you're sleeping.
00:25:20.188 --> 00:25:23.236
So sleep is good medicine.
00:25:23.236 --> 00:25:30.171
We're often talking too much about supplements and, believe you me, I am a supplement believer.
00:25:30.171 --> 00:25:33.182
But we've got to do the simple things.
00:25:33.182 --> 00:25:42.611
We've got to get those foundational things in place, and a lot of women are really in sympathetic fight, flight, fright mode.
00:25:42.611 --> 00:25:43.573
Oh, yes.
00:25:45.141 --> 00:25:49.551
That's how I got into doing what I do is that I suffered from an anxiety disorder.
00:25:49.551 --> 00:26:17.769
I was diagnosed about 20 years ago and I took a year sabbatical under the auspices of going back to school and getting another master's, but actually what I did was I started taking classes and that's kind of how I found out about the mind, body, spirit, world and I made a decision that I just wasn't going to go back because I wasn't going to put myself back in and in that situation to help cause it, and I learned about the concept of chronic stress.
00:26:17.769 --> 00:26:53.076
You say this because what I didn't say but I was thinking I was going to say it later, depending on what you said was that one of the reasons I think that we responded the way we did to the virus COVID was because of compromised immune systems based upon the pace within which we live our lives not getting enough sleep, not shutting all the way down, of course, not eating properly, not moving enough, being glued to computers, multiple priorities of everything else but ourselves, basically putting ourselves so far on the back burner that even when we do take time to reach back there to try to pull us back, can't find ourselves.
00:26:53.076 --> 00:26:59.326
And the other thing was about that you mentioned that I really do agree with is how we set our priorities.
00:26:59.326 --> 00:27:15.653
How we set our priorities, I mean we will go and spend $400 on a pair of shoes and $1,000 on a bag, even make payment arrangements for this bag, but get upset when a health coach charges you $200 an hour or whatever it is.
00:27:15.692 --> 00:27:17.180
Or you go to see someone like yourself and it's about the priorities.
00:27:17.180 --> 00:27:21.791
It's not so much what you look like I say this all the time it's about what your health is like.
00:27:21.791 --> 00:27:29.263
A healthy person can be very, very thin, but who knows what the heck is going on on the inside.
00:27:29.263 --> 00:27:42.054
And we are such a visceral society that is preoccupied with the surface of what we look, that the insides we've kind of let go of, and that's why someone like you is so important.
00:27:42.054 --> 00:27:49.237
So I'm so glad that you mentioned chronic stress, because that is a killer, especially in our community.
00:27:49.237 --> 00:27:58.307
Now, my listeners are from all over the world, but everybody knows I'm African-American, so I'm going to talk to you sisters for a minute For those of you who listen to me.
00:27:58.307 --> 00:28:12.547
This is a real thing and because of our history of hypertension and obesity and the number one killer, heart disease, adding chronic stress to your list is not something that you want to do, and it can be prevented, right, it can be prevented.
00:28:12.728 --> 00:28:14.192
Absolutely, absolutely.
00:28:14.192 --> 00:28:18.215
And to your point about sabbatical, I mean you and I could probably talk all day long.
00:28:18.215 --> 00:28:24.962
Some people would say, well, everyone can't afford to take off for a year or a month or two weeks or what have you.
00:28:24.962 --> 00:28:32.282
I've had that pushback and what I do say is just ask yourself if you can afford to be on disability.
00:28:32.282 --> 00:28:38.554
You'd be surprised how minuscule disability payments really are.
00:28:38.554 --> 00:28:45.082
Can you afford to be off for a month for an illness, for an emergency surgery, for a heart attack?
00:28:45.082 --> 00:28:48.209
Again, it's planning, it's priorities.
00:28:48.209 --> 00:28:53.047
I'm not saying to you know, don't pay your bills in the name of taking a sabbatical.
00:28:53.047 --> 00:28:57.663
But what I am saying is bet on the inevitable, not the impossible.
00:28:57.663 --> 00:29:02.790
The inevitable is you are getting older, you are going to get older.
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What's the alternative?
00:29:03.832 --> 00:29:05.755
We should be happy about getting older.
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