Naturopathic Medicine Explained: A Personalized Approach to Health

Full Episode Transcript

Automatically generated transcript. Minor transcription errors may remain. Timestamps link to the corresponding point in the video.

[00:00] When I was um 16, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. You know, went to different neurologists, different doctors, and nobody could figure out why. Nobody could give us answers. Nobody ever

[00:08] talked to me about like what I was eating. How were you sleeping? I was able to effectively get off of my medication. Why isn’t everyone doing this? This is how medicine should be.

[00:16] You end up waiting in the waiting room longer than you’re in the visit. You have to handle those bullet points. You have to be on your game when you go to your doctor. That’s not healthcare.

[00:24] That’s, you know, reactive care. Things terrible. I know.

[00:34] Welcome to the Care Cartgraphy, a show about health care and having practical conversations with people who understand the health care system from different

[00:42] angles. From doctors and nurses to administrators and operators to coordinators and patient advocates and other health care professionals who see

[00:50] where the system works, where it breaks down, and what could be done better.

[00:54] Today we’re going to talk about naturopathic medicine and its role in creating an individualized and integrated holistic health plan. And

[01:02] with us today is Dr. Adelina Azold, who is licensed as a naturopathic doctor in Arizona and through whole life

[01:09] naturopathic. She works as a naturopathic consultant, educator, and patient care advocate. Dr. Isold is

[01:16] affiliated with Full Circle Health in Edund, Oklahoma, and ATL Pain Institute in Dorville, Georgia, near Atlanta. Dr. years old. Welcome.

[01:24] Thank you for having me. I’m very grateful to be here and I even when you had mentioned naturopathic medicine, it might be a little bit different to hear that.

[01:32] Um, but I’m very excited to come here and and share and preach about how beautiful my medicine is.

[01:37] Well, that that sounds fantastic. We’d love to talk to you about that and and also uh you interested in your in your personal history because you grew up in Italy. Is that right?

[01:45] Yes. Um, so italiano. So I lived in Italy from when I was two till I went to um high school. So it was uh one of the

[01:52] best experiences because it we went to all Italian schools. We learned all the language. Um we were fully immersed. We were able to come back to United States

[01:59] for summers and stuff. So see family and such. So yeah, I definitely lived a very fortunate childhood in that light. But that also somewhat shaped why I chose

[02:08] this discipline in medicine was because in Italy just culturally speaking like there’s so much more community and folk medicine. there’s so much more like

[02:16] people respect and value, you know, what they’re eating and what they do with their time, who they put themselves around. And I guess I was really had a

[02:24] wakeup call when I moved back to United States and I got kind of put back into that kind of western model and and and healthcare system. I was like, whoa, this is completely different than what I

[02:33] was exposed to and raised on and and growing up. And so, yeah, growing up in Italy definitely shaped even why I chose this path. And you also had your own

[02:42] personal health journey that that made your career path a bit self-evident, right? Definitely. Uh these this is during your teen years. Is that right?

[02:50] Yeah. And I really think that that’s why um maybe so many of us undergo our own health challenges at different various times in our life. But I feel like when

[02:58] I had mine at such a younger age, I’m I look at it now and I’m actually really grateful because it gave me an idea and opportunity. And then I underwent my own health challenge and I kind of got put

[03:06] into the system and you know went to different neurologists, different doctors and nobody could figure out why.

[03:11] nobody could give us answers and it just felt like you know just fill this medicine that’s all that’s going to and I’m like okay was there anything we can do like the questions the time there

[03:20] wasn’t a lot of guidance and I then um through my own health journey everyone when I said I want to be a Navy nurse they’re like you can’t be a nurse you can’t be told what to do you need to

[03:28] look into um naturopathic medicine and I still to this day get kind of teareyed when I think of it because when I came across naturopathic medicine I started

[03:36] reading and learning more about it and I was like why isn’t everyone doing this this is how medicine should be. You you take the time with the patient. You’re looking at treating the whole patient.

[03:45] You’re you’re really trying to fortify their own body through natural practices. And it just made so much sense to me that that day when I looked

[03:52] into it, I I um applied I got accepted to um the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona.

[04:00] So I completed my four-year undergraduate in Buffalo. So I’m originally from upstate New York. And um I played collegiate level lacrosse. I loved it. It was like one of my favorite

[04:08] times of my life. But then um I moved to Tempe, Arizona and went to do my 4-year um graduate degree, which was amazing.

[04:17] Um just the amount of clinical training you receive. Um I’ve done rounds in oncology, um addiction, um geriatrics, I

[04:25] mean you name it, we get the same level and quality care, but then we have to learn all the natural. So as a naturopathic medical doctor in the state

[04:34] of Arizona, which is where I can call myself a medical doctor, lenture across the United States is very different. But um I’m a primary care physician. So I

[04:42] have to be legally trained in order to prescribe um for surgeries, things like that. But as a naturopath, I try to use more natural options. So I’m trained in

[04:50] chiropractic, acupuncture, homeopathy, herbs, nutrition, and functional medicine. And that’s what I focus on a lot here um in the state of Georgia

[04:58] because a lot of patients are looking for answers um maybe outside of their regular doctors. So whether it’s looking at food allergies, gut testing,

[05:06] hormones, we’re really trying to figure out like why are you having so many of those issues as opposed to managing all the symptoms,

[05:13] right? So So how would if you were able to describe naturopathic medicine, how would you do it?

[05:19] Yeah, naturopathic medicine is ultimately using natural approaches first. So it’s it’s always looking at least invasive practices before more

[05:27] invasive. So like prescriptive surgeries, those are invasive. They’re kind of changing the trajectory of your body. But naturopathic medicine in itself is a root cause medicine. So

[05:36] we’re ultimately trying to figure out the why and then hopefully have that domino effect towards healing if we’re able to align ourselves maybe with what the body is trying to ask um or support.

[05:46] And that’s where functional medicine can help better guide us. But realistically, naturopathic medicine is a lifestyle.

[05:52] It’s the way you eat. It’s the way you value your time and sleep and recovery and so much of the ages after our pandemic highlighted the need and the

[05:59] demand for this quality style care because we we were so used to the western model and now more truths are coming out and people are starting to

[06:07] learn more and they want to advocate for yourselves. So, it’s interesting how back in what 2014 when I chose to go down this avenue, it

[06:16] was very much so like that’s weird. What do you do now? You can’t go anywhere without talking about functional or natural approaches to health, right?

[06:24] It seems that your own personal health journey took you down this path yourself. So can can you uh elaborate a little bit more as to as to what

[06:33] happened to you and then and then how the naturopathic way helped you?

[06:39] Oh definitely. So when I was um 16 I was diagnosed with epilepsy which is obviously a very debilitating condition in the sense that more so even for my

[06:48] family members because there was no like nothing no reason. There was nothing. All of a sudden I had a grandma seizure.

[06:54] They couldn’t figure out why. Um went into neurologist. I spent most of my high school going to different sleep studies and different tests which everything came back normal. Throughout

[07:02] that process of years of trying to figure out, you know, the the epilepsy and and aspects like that. Nobody ever talked to me about like what I was eating, how are you sleeping, and

[07:11] especially a teenager, those are conversations that you definitely want to have, right? Is kind of learning like, hey, are you staying out partying all night or are you, you know, drinking

[07:19] water during the day? Like things that obviously should have been, in my opinion, mentioned. And so through that journey I learned obviously my dad being

[07:26] in the in the medical field and such he was like hey we should look into the ketogenic diet we should you know so we started advocating and learning more and in that process I was able to effectively get off of my medication.

[07:36] and I was effectively able to learn more about my body and what I need and sleep was my superpower after the fact.

[07:42] I just wish that you know obviously there’s this young motivated individual that you’re kind of shaping their health and I just didn’t feel like there was

[07:50] enough time compassion understanding or explanation and so you know for me I did brain mapping which was a very different strategy not very much so often done

[07:58] they do EEGs but they don’t to look at brain activity but they don’t look at the specific waves and such that like you know what’s happening in there um

[08:06] they looked at hormones like cortisol like stress so I met a naturopath and he took me down this avenue and this path of learning that there’s so much more

[08:14] you can do about your health than just stay on a medication. So the fact that this neurologist had this keen motivated young individual trying to seek answers

[08:21] and that wasn’t the first line of conversation of hey this is what I think you should be eating and this is what you know it was more so like yeah you’re

[08:28] doing all you can just take the medicine and you know it just felt like I wasn’t necessarily being supported and then you have to advocate for yourself and it’s

[08:37] like okay I’m 16 years old I’m motivated I’m excited but you know there’s now especially I really want to put that out there to so many patients that

[08:45] unfortunately don’t get to see all the beauty that natural medicine has to offer because we have so much more accessibility. You have access to these options now. Natural medicine is on the rise. People want to get on supplements.

[08:56] They want to, you know, get on peptides and all these wonderful strategies, but they don’t have any guidance. They don’t have somebody that that’s what they’re

[09:03] trained in and they’re better help you as the individual use some of these tools to see all the beauty. Maybe they’ve dabbled. Oh, it doesn’t work.

[09:10] Oh, you know, and they have maybe a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to natural medicine, but they never did it.

[09:15] did it justice. They didn’t do it in the right way. Does that make sense?

[09:18] No. Sure. And so given that perspective, what do you think is the biggest difference between naturopathic uh

[09:28] medicine and let’s say traditional western primary care?

[09:32] Well, first and foremost, it’s the algorithm that so much of these primary care physicians are stuck within. It’s like, okay, when I see this, I, you

[09:40] know, high TSH, now I’ll order a comprehensive thyroid or I’ll refer to an endocrinologist. And let me tell you that western algorithm is honestly the

[09:48] easiest part of my job. I don’t not to discredit any providers. There’s great doctors out there. But the natural side is that extra layer on how can this

[09:55] person be eating? How can they activate this within their own body? How can you know? So that’s really the hard job is figuring out like what botanical or what

[10:03] you know specific mineral does somebody need and can have that like I express all the time domino effect towards healing where you do one thing and it it

[10:11] has that trickle like the biggest bang for our buck. How can we get the body moving in sync with the efforts of of healing? Right? And so the difference I

[10:19] would say between primary care is the cookie cutter approaches to so much of their care and not diving in. And that’s

[10:27] where sometimes patients can get a little bit frustrated. Even my friends and family are like, “Why’d you move to Georgia? It’s an unlicensed state. You don’t have the same scope of practice.

[10:34] You can’t prescribe. You can’t legally diagnose.” And I said, you know, I’m looking for patients that wanted to dive in a little bit deeper and learn more about their health and are eager to

[10:43] change their diet and change, you know, and really, you know, be their person to advocate for them on how to do natural strategies, right?

[10:52] As part of your care, it seems that your initial patient evaluation is is quite lengthy. Firstly, why do you think

[10:59] that’s that time spent with that person is important? And secondly, what are you looking for? Everybody was always telling me, I offer a free 30-inut consultation to any prospective clients.

[11:09] And a lot of times, um, my friends and family, why do you do that? You know, you should you should be charging for your time, whichever. And I said, you know what, realistically speaking, I

[11:16] want to make sure that we’re a good fit because if I’m really going to be your naturopath, somebody that’s guiding you through health, I want to be sure that we jive, that this relationship is going to be reciprocal, the way that I explain

[11:25] things make sense to you. So, it’s it’s a partnership. It’s a relationship. So, I offer that free 30-minute consultation to learn more about their health concerns, what’s been going on, when’s

[11:33] the last time you had labs, what are you actively taking, and then kind of best appropriately gauge like what tools do I have in my toolkit that would be, you

[11:41] know, beneficial of service to you, whether it’s looking at, you know, functional testing. And then after that, that free consultation at that point,

[11:48] maybe we have additional labs we want to order, maybe they’re doing a stool test, maybe they’re doing genetic assessments, whichever. And uh once I get that report back, then we meet for our initial

[11:57] 90minute visit. So we go all the way back to what that patient’s um birth was. What was your mom’s pregnancy? What how were you, you know, were you a vaginal birth? Were you a C-section?

[12:07] We’re learning about um were you breastfed? Did you have vaccinations?

[12:10] What was growing up like? What did you eat during those life phases? And we’re actually breaking it down for decades.

[12:14] Like what was puberty like? I’m trying to learn basically everything that led to maybe this concern or symptom that you’re experiencing right now. As well as looking at like a typical day in your

[12:23] life. How are you eating? How are you pooping? How are you sleeping? What are you taking? And we kind of compile that together, review the labs, and come up with a plan based on that. And so much

[12:31] of what we do is working with the body’s efforts. So yes, there are certain phases, approaches, ways to really support the patient as best because

[12:39] there are obviously so many things I think that are kind of trending accessible and patients need to understand that natural medicine does

[12:46] take time but if done in the right order or hierarchy that that body is experiencing you will have just like the best experience with natural medicine.

[12:55] So what does root cause medicine mean to you?

[12:59] Yeah. Um, root cause is realistically figuring out the why. And and root cause can be so much. I mean, we call in the

[13:07] naturopathic realm, there’s a lot of obstacles to cure. Maybe somebody’s job, maybe somebody’s relationship, you know, those are things like stress. I can’t make stress go away, but I can make your

[13:15] body a little bit more resilient to stress. Um, there are several ways that we can explore, you know, how the root cause, and that’s variable for

[13:23] everybody. um you know some factors is is this nature aka these are things that are happening within your genetics that unfortunately is a long go longgoing

[13:31] strategy to try to mitigate whether that’s inflammation or methylation or detoxification maybe that’s something that your body struggles with even

[13:39] before looking at you know more so what I call like the nurture like how are you eating how are you sleeping like you have to kind of delegate a little bit of

[13:46] that to find the root cause for some people it’s gut health for some you know so it’s it varies for everybody but it’s taking the deep dive and connection and

[13:54] talking to someone and learning more what where is their their concern stemming from primarily

[14:01] and what world is you know a person’s motivation to learn more about their body and just other things where does that fit into the scheme

[14:10] oh my gosh well that’s honestly the most exciting um aspect is because first and foremost like I expressed sometimes we

[14:18] get patients that this I’m like you know my mom told me I have to come or you know like you get patients that are maybe not as keen on on exploring this

[14:25] option. Um, but typically their skepticism like leaves after we have the time and we explain things and they have those what I call like aha moments where

[14:33] you start making connections and you read through these labs and maybe they haven’t even express some of those things to me and they’re like, “How’d you know that?” And I’m like, “Yeah, well, you know, we’re reading between

[14:41] the lines don’t lie, right?” Yeah, they don’t. And so many and so in so many of those instances, I think that’s how we can expand on on the the root cause for so many people as well.

[14:51] So, what would make someone a good candidate for naturopathic medicine as as a as a client patient? Um, I think

[14:59] anyone is a candidate for naturopathic medicine for sure, but most commonly what I see are the patients that have tried it all and you know I’m maybe

[15:08] their last resort and you know maybe they’ve been you know supported through their endocrinologist for years to manage their thyroid concerns and they

[15:16] never dove in deeper to learn a little bit about how the thyroid, the sex hormones, the adrenals work together and where’s the gut in all of this. So, a

[15:24] lot of times it’s looking for motivated individuals that are eager to kind of take that deeper dive um and learn more about their health. There has to be like

[15:31] a sweet spot and that’s really what I look for even in that consultation of like is this the right fit for you?

[15:37] Right? Because naturopathic medicine sometimes, as much as it sounds very pretty and nice on the outside, it does require a lot of work and it does

[15:44] require also, you know, the right practitioner. And that goes for any style practice that you’re looking for if whether it’s massage therapy,

[15:52] chiropractic, acupuncture. I mean, that’s that’s a lot of exchange that’s happening in that moment. And so, you have to be sure you jive with that practitioner. So,

[16:00] absolutely. So, so what would make someone a I want to say bad candidate, but less optimal candidate?

[16:07] Everyone really is a candidate for naturopathic medicine, but it’s that openness and willingness that it takes to really, you know, open to suggestion and recommendations.

[16:16] You’ve your website mentions learning about the patient and and about their issues in their own words. Why is that important? Especially in the context of of of what you do.

[16:27] Oh, that’s a very good question because realistically that’s how we’re putting the puzzle pieces together. You’re able to just listen to maybe how someone’s

[16:35] saying something. Maybe, you know, looking back and they’re talking about their childhood and all the stress and the trauma. and expanding on some of those areas can help us better hone in

[16:43] on maybe where is their body having some, you know, challenges in overcoming or healing. So, definitely taking the time and just learning somebody because

[16:52] it’s so beautiful how there can be a specific herb or a specific remedy or something that’s very telling on how somebody, you know, their demeanor, how

[17:01] they say things, what, you know, so that’s the beauty about naturopathic medicine is there’s so much energetic efforts behind it. What are some

[17:09] examples of how certain symptoms in the body may connect?

[17:13] Well, several options or scenarios. One of which is like digestive health and function. Oftentimes, you know, first and foremost, that’s an area and around

[17:21] that often gets overlooked. And if you know any naturopath, they will always talk about your poop. They always are trying to learn more about your

[17:29] digestive health and function because 85% of your immune system stems from there. your hormones, your your um neurotransmitters, everything’s metabolized at that digestive level. So,

[17:38] if you’re not expanding and learning more about somebody’s digestive health, you’re missing a key piece there. But often times you might see somebody that’s depressed and maybe has brain fog

[17:47] and you know, and often times they’re just being prescribed, you know, chemical um prescriptives and which is might be helpful in order to get them

[17:55] stable, but in terms of root cause, we want to get to the root. So, what’s happening at the digestive level? Oh, how often do you poop? Oh, I go once every two weeks. That’s normal for me.

[18:04] Yeah. And I’m like, what do you mean that’s normal for you? You know, it’s very important just like a baby, you know, food goes in, food goes out. The body should be able to process and put

[18:11] whatever’s at waste. So, even just having that time and conversation, I mean, look, that patient met me and they’re in their 30s, you know what I mean? And nobody ever talked to them

[18:19] about how regular they are with their bowels, you know, stuff like that. So, we’re able to also through interviewing processes like yourself, you can learn

[18:27] more about a patient and learn more even where their systems might be having challenges. So I think it’s it’s looking at a symptom and diving in way deeper.

[18:35] So like depression often times can be keened as you know an imbalance chemically but okay that’s great. Maybe you’re on medication you’re stable. Now

[18:43] it’s important to figure out why is there a chemical imbalance? Is it you know we’re not methylating we’re not clearing we’re not detoxing. Is it you know digestive health and function? Is

[18:51] it hormonal or neuroendocrine? Like there could be thyroid related challenges. And that’s oftentimes where I work a lot with um GI health as well

[18:59] as hormonal balance. a lot of women, pmenopause, menopause, and not understanding that your thyroid, your sex hormones, your adrenals, they’re all

[19:08] connected and your gut’s kind of in the middle pulling a lot of those strings.

[19:11] And so, it’s really important for us to look at everything. And so, often times they’re going to their gynecologist for their hormones, their endocrinologist for their thyroid, their primary care

[19:19] for their, you know, cholesterol or whichever. And nobody’s looking at all together and saying, “How is this working, you know, in a typical day for

[19:26] you? How are you eating? Oh, I I skip all these meals, you know.” So, it’s really taking that time and that understanding of the why. Why are these

[19:34] labs looking this way? What can we shift? Stuff like that.

[19:37] Well, speaking of labs, uh let’s talk about functional testing. So, for those who might not be aware, what does that mean? Functional testing is obviously a

[19:45] very patient centered because you’re trying to learn a little bit about what test might be most appropriate for that patient because functional testing is a

[19:53] big realm and like I expressed I mean I can talk all day about just functional testing in itself but um like functional genomics that’s a beautiful um

[20:00] assessment that’s looking more so at your your gene snips or your body’s predisposition but functional testing really is just having access to

[20:08] different types of labs diving in a little bit deeper and reading between the lines And that’s what’s also very not understood is maybe you go to a

[20:17] regular practitioner, they run just the basics, but even just through the basics, you can learn so much about a patient without all those very expensive

[20:24] additives, right? But at the same instance, that’s often times where I need to go because some of the patients I work with have had all the basic stuff done and they need to take that deeper

[20:33] dive into the more functional type testing to learn more about their body.

[20:37] in the testing uh scenario, how do you avoid over testing or overwhelming a patient with data?

[20:43] Definitely super important because I definitely also believe that there’s like a hierarchy. so many other even you know there’s so many um integrative

[20:51] clinics now accessible and they kind of push a lot of assessments and similarly to any type of of imaging right if you go looking for problems you’re going to

[20:59] find it right but it’s important to learn more about the patient and realistically where is their body going to get the most benefit with which

[21:06] assessment right so it might be best warranted for us to run a comprehensive blood screen and learn more about inflammation vitamins hormones you know

[21:14] kind of a snapshot in time what’s happening in your body and even just from that more comprehensive of view, we can better learn, you know, let’s say if there is a lot of immune activation, a

[21:22] lot of allergy cells, well, maybe the best avenue for us to get best relief would be to look at the digestive health and function and that might be the avenue we go down. Or maybe we look at

[21:31] that comprehensive screen and we see a lot of hormone disruptions. Well, maybe then we need to dive into more deeper um hormonal profiles, whether it’s Dutch

[21:38] assessments or salivary, urinary, you know, you name it. But we have access to all those things. But it’s it’s kind of like you expressed, we don’t want to

[21:46] overdo it either. You don’t want to order every test and start every supplement. And that’s really what I always make very clear to patients is

[21:53] that I’m not a functional doctor because now there’s a lot of functional doctors like um that are MDs or nurse practitioners or even DCS, which I love

[22:01] all of all of them, but they’re still trained in a pill for your ill. And maybe instead of a medication, they’re giving you a supplement, which is great.

[22:08] Um, but at the end of the day, people leave with bags and bags of supplements and they’re like, “Hopefully, I’ll feel better.” But nobody’s ever educating them about their body, reading through

[22:15] the labs, making connections on, okay, maybe this is where we are now. What am I what are we shifting to? So, like good scenario today. I mean, I had a patient,

[22:24] we looked at genetics, we looked at uh a big comprehensive blood profile, and it’s like having that conversation of, okay, in a couple weeks, this is what I

[22:32] would expect to see. And then, you know, we’re going to reassess these certain values. I think so many of us, especially navigating this natural path,

[22:40] need to have a little bit more steps and guidance and and ways to like what should I expect, what should I notice, you know, and not everyone’s getting

[22:47] that. Um, especially when they use Tik Tok or Google to help guide their natural strategies, you know, now this information is accessible. Functional

[22:56] medicine, natural approaches, it’s not foreign anymore, which I’m very grateful for. But now it’s kind of diving into the difference, which is, is this somebody’s discipline? Is this their

[23:05] passion? So like myself, I always make that clear. I’m a naturopath. So the way that I view the body and approach it is very different because I am trying to

[23:12] find the root. I am trying to support your body’s efforts, not you know a lot of the western strategy is looking at it as like your body’s doing something

[23:20] wrong. Naturopathic medicine is we need to fortify your body’s efforts and you know validate maybe what it’s experiencing and that’s why some of

[23:27] those objective trackers through functional strategies can help patients learn more about their body and say oh yeah that makes sense okay because you

[23:34] don’t feel your cholesterol being high you don’t feel your vitamin D low but it’s nice to have a tangible number to help kind of guide your efforts and uh

[23:43] with accountability and all too so you mentioned that you’re not looking for someone to be on a certain let’s say

[23:50] program for for too long of a period of time, but it still uh natural medicine still takes time, right? And um why is that?

[23:58] Because first and foremost, so many of these protocols have to kind of one be appropriate for what’s happening in your

[24:06] life. And like we were just discussing, it’s especially being a practitioner, your practice is always a reflection of what’s happening in your life, right? So

[24:13] obviously I can re like empathize so much with a working mom with young kids and you know but I think that that’s really what it takes is learning more

[24:21] about your pra your patients what’s kind of going on in their their phase in their life and how can we you know come up with a plan that’s specific for them

[24:29] in this season because that can derail so many people life happens right I can’t make things go away for you but I can definitely help you throughout and

[24:38] that’s also I would say how naturopath medicine is a little bit different you’re not talking to the nurse line you’re not reaching out. You know, you’re working with me and I’m kind of holding your hand a lot in the

[24:46] beginning, which is totally fine. I love doing it because then patients learn about their body and soon enough, you know, they know what they need to be eating and oh, what their trigger foods

[24:55] were or what they need to monitor because somebody explained it to them and taught them so that hopefully later on in life when I’m not there, you know,

[25:03] looking over their vitamin list, they know what they should be taking, stuff like that. Would you have a a story about a patient that really exemplifies the success of of of natural medicine?

[25:15] Yes. Um, one of my esteemed now friends of mine because when he presented to me, it was 6 years into his health journey.

[25:24] Unfortunately, he was uh very sick. He got sick on his honeymoon nonetheless.

[25:30] and um GI issues led to removing his whole colon which was obviously yeah a pretty big deal in order to remove a whole colon cuz usually that doesn’t

[25:38] happen and basically was meant to live on uh prescriptives the rest of his life um different medications for pain

[25:45] different medications to keep him you know from you know not pooping to pooping you know all these different things and at that point in his journey

[25:53] I was referred to by his physical therapist referred him and said I don’t know what you’re going to be able to do I mean bird’s great or this individual is great, he’s amazing person, but you

[26:02] know, and and at that point I was like, “Okay, bring him in.” Brought him in. Um the very big difference about this individual was like his willingness.

[26:11] Like he was like you could just see it in his eyes like he’s like, “I’m going to figure this out. I want to do it.” Motivated like and just like open and

[26:20] but you can tell he’s been burned from previous practitioners because there was a little bit of hesitancy. if something didn’t work as desired, he was almost

[26:27] like sad or scared to share it. And it’s like, that’s fine. Cool. Let’s Okay, that one didn’t work. Let’s switch to this one. Let’s So, that was like a different dynamic for him. He was like,

[26:36] I’ve never had somebody instead of like saying it was a me problem, go back into their toolkit and figure out another option. And so, through our journey, I

[26:44] mean, this individual has worked with numerous GI doctors. Um, but nobody ever ran like a functional stool test on him to look at basically what was happening.

[26:53] We were able to change the ecology at this given day. He was when I met him.

[26:58] Yeah. He was spending several hours in like on the bathroom floor just like couldn’t move. His life wasn’t able to

[27:06] function. His marriage, his child, like things.

[27:08] I know. And and you know, and I remember I’m never going to forget it when I had to call the GI doctor to ask, “Hey, we got his results back. There’s this

[27:17] specific prescriptive that said would be beneficial. Would you be open?” He’s like, “Yeah, I’ll order it.” But that guy was very anxious. he’s not going to good luck, you know, and that was the

[27:26] the exchange between practitioners about a patient care, which obviously didn’t resonate well with me. But, um, basically though, through our efforts,

[27:35] this individual has regained weight, has been able, when I first met him, the only thing he could eat was milk and donuts, and he was living on milk and donuts and still losing all this weight.

[27:46] And I had now he eats variety of colors and fruits and vegetables. He’s putting on weight. I mean, you would have never guessed. And he actually started his own

[27:54] nonprofit that I’m actually a part of called Healing Seekers, uh, which is basically supporting patients that have maybe are undergoing certain health

[28:02] struggles and challenges and trying to create space for basically knowing that there’s opportunity and growth in your healing journey. And not every, you

[28:10] know, just a lot of times, you know, we can get very down and out and why me?

[28:14] this takes so long, you know, but kind of creating that space for anybody that’s maybe struggling and needs time and that space to kind of share their

[28:22] story and share their successes and maybe losses and yeah kind of create more hope for these people. That’s that’s that’s a fantastic story.

[28:30] Oh yeah.

[28:31] So what in your view should conventional medicine and naturopathic medicine learn from each other?

[28:38] Good question. I feel that in in essence there’s such a beauty to the more reactive style medicines because you

[28:46] know there is a different layer of of care that you’re getting. So especially when it comes to ER strategies I definitely I mean I remember my

[28:54] emergency medicine um you know rounds and classes. I mean there’s a there’s a specific type that you want in those instances right um I will do everything

[29:03] in my power to not end up there and that’s why I love the preventative the naturopathic strategies. So, I really think if we could bridge and kind of

[29:10] both delegate to each other where our strengths are because so much so instead of judging each other and saying one’s doing one better or worse or whichever,

[29:18] it’s almost like let’s let’s bridge, let’s integrate, let’s work together and we’re on the same team here, guys, right?

[29:24] We’re on the same team and it’s it’s almost like I if more practitioners were open not and on both ends to

[29:31] conversation and thought processes, that’s how we grow. And really that’s why I chose the discipline of medicine is because every day you learn something

[29:39] new. You you’re always learning. So, you know, to any young ones out there, if you’re looking for something that you never stop going to school or never stop

[29:46] learning, this is the field that you want to be in. And so, when you work with practitioners that kind of are set in their ways and maybe those now that

[29:54] are not as open to the these strategies that we’re discussing like functional medicine and stuff, it’s like then, you know, you have to ask like why why did

[30:02] you pick this field? Maybe they need deeper work, you know, to gauge like why did you find this as your passion, you know, because really that’s all it takes is learning and trying.

[30:13] What is one misconception about naturopathic medicine that you might want to correct?

[30:18] Yeah. Like I expressed I mean especially I should say naturopathic medicine as a whole. I want to make one clear distinction because a lot of times this

[30:26] gets confused. So there are naturopaths which are traditional naturopaths that are still trained in many of the principles that were trained in a

[30:33] naturopathic medical school, but then there are naturopathic medical doctors that went to an accredited, you know, medical school. I I completed a two-year

[30:41] medical residency after my graduate program. So I think there’s different tiers to naturopathic medicine, but at the end of the day, it’s really about

[30:49] just the the practitioner and what they’re what they’re willing to to provide, right? Because na the the traditional naturopathy is beautiful and

[30:58] still foundational, but a lot of those they you know can get online schooling.

[31:01] And the challenge with that is that they may be giving naturopathic medicine as a whole a bad rep because some of those individuals just like medical doctors,

[31:09] right? There’s good doctors and then there’s bad doctors, right? But it’s not as amply advertised or or discussed as much so I would say as naturopathic medicine because it is on the rise.

[31:21] So, what advice would you give to someone who wants to be healthier, just doesn’t know where to start?

[31:27] Um, start with kind of that internal evaluation. What are things that you’re doing in your day-to-day to kind of improve your health? How are you

[31:35] sleeping? How are you eating? How are you pooping? Like, ask yourself those questions cuz sometimes, obviously, I’m happy to be somebody to prompt some of those thought processes, but sometimes

[31:44] we get so busy in our life and, oh, my dad had this issue, I’m going to have this issue. If you’re just trying to be healthier, I think good into sception is

[31:51] a good place to start. Kind of looking inward, kind of gauging like where are even maybe some of your fears when it comes to your health. Are you, you know,

[31:59] worried that you’re going to have a heart attack like your dad or, you know, there there are so much that you can kind of but starts with kind of into

[32:06] sception, listening to yourself and going from there. And I think that’s that’s great advice. And

[32:12] um along the same lines uh to the viewers, what would be something from this conversation that you would want them to take away?

[32:23] Not that naturopathic medicine is just hippies in the woods. No. Um what I want people to take away is that there are options. And I think just because

[32:30] they’re not so heavily discussed in your doctor’s office doesn’t mean you don’t have the option or the ability to get a second or even a third opinion in order

[32:39] to learn more about your health and and approach it differently. Just because maybe this is the avenue they’ve recommended. Sometimes we’re so keen

[32:47] because we’re kind of used to that old school way of, you know, you go to your family’s doctor and they know you and they take care of you. And that’s really what it was in Europe. I mean, in Italy

[32:55] it was socialized medicine and everybody had their own doctor. And that family doctor was like, he’d come to your house, he’d sit for hours, you’d be like, “Leave.” You know, but that was just like that was how it was, you know.

[33:05] And then in the United States, it’s like you you end up waiting in the waiting room longer than you’re in the visit.

[33:11] And you you know, you have to come with like bullet point like you have to be on your game when you go to your doctor cuz you’re like, I need to tell them this, this, and this. And that shouldn’t

[33:19] that’s not health care. That’s, you know, reactive care. if you’re somebody that’s interested in kind of taking that deep dive, not feeling like you have to hit all those bullet points, you know,

[33:27] and I think that that’s really what shifts even in the room, like patients maybe come from this avenue of being all western and they come see me and they

[33:35] they kind of are, you know, in that mindset and you’re like, “This is a completely different vibe. We’re doing things completely different here. We’re

[33:42] trying to really like dive in deeper and you don’t have to, you know, rush through this time together because it’s not like, okay, goodbye. See you in 3 months.” It’s like so much of my care is

[33:51] ongoing, right? And and really it comes with learning about your body, practicing what you know I teach you,

[33:58] stuff like that. That’s that’s that’s a wonderful uh answer and I think that’s something a lot of us can connect with,

[34:06] especially the interaction that you mentioned where come equipped with bullet points for the 12-minute visit. I know and and it’s not to even discredit you

[34:15] know there that’s you know even like our farming industry the world I mean so much we can always look at the negative sides but it’s important to just like I

[34:22] said expand into the options and the avenues and know that things are expanding there are different options just maybe you don’t fit that specific

[34:29] box then let’s think outside the box right so last question for you and that is this if you could change one thing

[34:38] about healthcare in America what would that Um, it would start with education in my opinion. I think it would start with

[34:46] generational health like making sure that maybe our younger, you know, we spend so much time in in health class and so much of that is not necessarily expanding on what you can eat.

[34:56] Obviously, now there’s different politicians moving some of that that dial, but I really think that that’s where we need to invest more of our

[35:04] efforts is the younger generations learning about the things that maybe our parents unfortunately didn’t dive as much into because they were so much more

[35:12] trusting. Right? Now, the millennials and the Gen Z’s and X’s and such, we’re kind of, you know, we have access to more information, right? So, we’re

[35:19] asking more questions, we want to learn more. And um so I think that having more reliable sources, more of that education

[35:28] when it comes to health as a whole, like talking about our bodies and what that means. And you know, I just feel like that wasn’t as much of a conversation.

[35:36] So many of our patients don’t even know.

[35:39] You’d be surprised how many present and I’m like, you know, what was your mom’s pregnancy? Oh, I don’t know. My mom never told me anything. And you know, and so it’s such different dynamics,

[35:46] right? Nowadays, it’s everything’s on social media. So you can learn anything you want.

[35:53] Well, thank you very much, Dr. Really appreciate you uh uh coming on here and and sharing uh your thoughts and uh I’m

[36:02] really hopeful that this will be helpful to folks watching. So I hope so too. So thank you very much. Thank you.

[36:09] Thank you for for tuning in. Really appreciate that. Hopefully you found this to be helpful and uh and interesting and hopefully you learned a

[36:17] few things. If you have any comments or questions, please put them in the comment section down below and we’ll put our contact information out there as

[36:25] well in case you want to reach out and have any additional questions. Thanks so much.