Episode 6
Navigating Info Overload, Social Media, and the Polarized World of Medicine with Doctors Brooke Weitz and Megan Anderson Saunders
I’m excited to have my friends Dr. Brooke Weitz and Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders with me today. We’re going to chat about tapping into your intuition in order to navigate what is worth checking out, what isn’t, and how to deal with the information overload.
Social media has grown a lot in recent years and fortunately, naturopathic medicine and techniques are getting more exposure than ever before, but it's hard to tell what's real and what's just an ad. Social media isn’t a good place to get answers, but it is a good place to formulate some questions, which you can then take to your doctor to sort out.
The only magic bullet to really feeling better is consistency, listening to your body, and working closely with your medical team.
Disclaimer:
This podcast and website represents the opinions of Jeannie Oliver and her guests to the show and website. The content here should not be taken as medical advice. The content here is for informational purposes only, and because you are unique, please consult your healthcare professional for any medical questions.
Views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and do not represent that of our employers. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.
Privacy is of utmost importance to us. All people, places, and scenarios mentioned in the podcast have been changed to protect patient/client confidentiality.
This website or podcast should not be used in any legal capacity whatsoever, including but not limited to establishing “standard of care” in a legal sense or as a basis for expert witness testimony. No guarantee is given regarding the accuracy of any statements or opinions made on the podcast or website.
In no way does listening, reading, emailing or interacting on social media with our content establish a doctor-patient relationship.
My Guests:
Dr. Brooke Weitz is a 2009 graduate of Bastyr University and is a board-certified naturopathic doctor licensed in the state of Washington. She was also a professor at Bastyr University from 2006-2012 where she taught physical medicine assessment and protocols for pain management and mobility optimization.
Dr. Weitz was a division 1 volleyball athlete and continues to compete and coach. She has been designing and implementing nutrition and sports optimization programs for local volleyball club teams since 2005 in the Seattle area.
Dr. Weitz is not accepting new primary care patients, but you can join her waitlist for Aesthetics, PRP, Regenerative Medicine and IV therapy for clients local to the greater Seattle area.
You can find Dr. Weitz at:
@drbrookeweitz on social and at:
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders, ND received her doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University and has been in practice since 2013.
She currently is a physician at Cascade Integrative Medicine in Issaquah Washington, where she improves her patients’ overall health using both short- and long-term, results-driven treatments that address the underlying causes of illness.
Her practice consists of about half primary care, and half pain management and she has extensive post-doctoral training in non-surgical pain management and injection therapies including trigger point injections, prolotherapy, PRP, and neural therapy.
You can find Dr. Megan online at
https://www.drmeganandersonsaunders.com
On Instagram at @dr.megansaunders
And on Facebook @DrMeganAndersonSaundersND
If you’re looking for support in reaching your health goals, schedule a free 30-minute Coffee Talk here to see if we’re a good fit to work together.
Connect with me on Instagram @joliverwellness! DM me the words “Nutrition Edit” and I’ll add you to my close friends list, where I share exclusive content. You’ll be the first to know about upcoming programs and early access to my waitlist.
Music credit: Funk’d Up by Reaktor Productions
A Podcast Launch Bestie production
Transcript
Hey there and welcome.
Jeannie Oliver:Today I have two amazing doctors joining me, Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Brooke Whites and Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Megan Anderson Saunders.
Jeannie Oliver:We're gonna talk about everything from how to navigate information overload on social
Jeannie Oliver:media, to how to choose supplements, and be your own medical advocate.
Jeannie Oliver:Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Brooke Whites is a 2009 graduate of Baier University and a board
Jeannie Oliver:certified naturopathic doctor licensed in the state of Washington.
Jeannie Oliver:She was also a professor at BAE from 2006 to 2012 where she taught physical
Jeannie Oliver:medicine assessment and protocols for pain management and mobility optimization.
Jeannie Oliver:Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Whites was a division one volleyball athlete and continues to compete in coach,
Jeannie Oliver:and she's been designing and implementing nutrition and sports optimization
Jeannie Oliver:programs for local volleyball club teams in the Seattle area since 2000.
Jeannie Oliver:When she's not treating patients, you'll find her in the gym.
Jeannie Oliver:Sometimes with me practicing yoga, playing or coaching volleyball or soccer, mom.
Jeannie Oliver:Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Megan Anderson Saunders Nd received her doctorate in naturopathic
Jeannie Oliver:medicine, also from BA University and has been practicing since 2013.
Jeannie Oliver:Currently, she's a physician at Cascade Integrative Medicine In is Aqua Washington
Jeannie Oliver:where she improves her patient's overall health, using both short and long term
Jeannie Oliver:results driven treatments that address the underlying causes of illness.
Jeannie Oliver:Her practice consists of about half primary care and half pain
Jeannie Oliver:management, and she has extensive post doctoral training in nonsurgical pain
Jeannie Oliver:management and injection therapies, including trigger point injections,
Jeannie Oliver:prolotherapy, P R P, and neurotherapy.
Jeannie Oliver:These amazing women have so much juicy information to share, and
Jeannie Oliver:I hope you find this episode as interesting and fun as I did.
Jeannie Oliver:So thanks for joining us.
Jeannie Oliver:Let's jump in.
Jeannie Oliver:Well, hello everyone and welcome back to the Nutrition edit.
Jeannie Oliver:I'm so glad you joined us tonight, and this is gonna be a fun one.
Jeannie Oliver:I have two of my favorite women here with me tonight, and it's a Friday evening.
Jeannie Oliver:We've all had a long week.
Jeannie Oliver:We enjoyed a glass of wine together and some organic snacks.
Jeannie Oliver:So we invite you to join us and um, I am super excited to introduce you to
Jeannie Oliver:these two because they are brilliant, amazing gifted doctors who really
Jeannie Oliver:pour their heart into their work.
Jeannie Oliver:And we are gonna talk tonight about kind of tapping into your intuition
Jeannie Oliver:and learning how to differentiate between what is bullshit out there,
Jeannie Oliver:what is worth checking out, and how to sort of navigate information overload.
Jeannie Oliver:So let's start with you, Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Megan.
Jeannie Oliver:Give us a little bit of your background, how you got into this work
Jeannie Oliver:and what your practice is all about.
Jeannie Oliver:Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders: Thank you, Jeanie.
Jeannie Oliver:I'm really happy to be here.
Jeannie Oliver:I love talking about this.
Jeannie Oliver:This is my life.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, I am a naturopathic physician and in Washington state that means that
Jeannie Oliver:I'm licensed as a primary care doctor.
Jeannie Oliver:Some people see me as their primary care and I do their wellness
Jeannie Oliver:exams and lab work and manage medications and things like that.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, and some people see me as a specialist.
Jeannie Oliver:The way that you might see a cardiologist if you had a heart condition.
Jeannie Oliver:I'm their naturopathic specialist.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, and the difference between me and maybe what you know about
Jeannie Oliver:other sorts of doctors is the way that we go about things.
Jeannie Oliver:And that's how I was trained at bae, which is the university that I went
Jeannie Oliver:to, to get my, my naturopathic degree.
Jeannie Oliver:So you might go to a regular primary care doctor and say, Hey, doc, I've got asthma,
Jeannie Oliver:eczema, and constipation, and leave with a laxative and inhaler and a topal steroid.
Jeannie Oliver:In my office, you would still leave with an inhaler because asthma's
Jeannie Oliver:a life threatening condition.
Jeannie Oliver:Uh, instead of topical steroid, you would leave with an herbal
Jeannie Oliver:sap instead of a laxative.
Jeannie Oliver:We would use magnesium because it has a laxative effect on the body and
Jeannie Oliver:helps with muscle relaxation, which is part of the pathology of asthma.
Jeannie Oliver:In the meantime, when there's inflammation in those three systems, it's what
Jeannie Oliver:we refer to as an allergic tria.
Jeannie Oliver:Mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:, More often than not, there's an inhaled or ingested irritant that is causing
Jeannie Oliver:those symptoms, and if we remove it, then those symptoms go away.
Jeannie Oliver:And that's the beauty of what we do.
Jeannie Oliver:I was drawn to this medicine because early on, um, in my twenties, I,
Jeannie Oliver:um, became sick with Lyme disease.
Jeannie Oliver:I had Lyme, and I say that in past tense, which some people in the
Jeannie Oliver:Lyme world might find as a surprise.
Jeannie Oliver:Some people think that you never get over.
Jeannie Oliver:and I had gotten my business degree.
Jeannie Oliver:I was working nonprofit and I started to get sick and I'd never
Jeannie Oliver:heard of a naturopath before I knew about herbal medicine.
Jeannie Oliver:My great-grandmother was a traditional herbalist up in Alaska.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, but I, I didn't know what a naturopath was and I sought out naturopathic
Jeannie Oliver:care and it was very helpful for me.
Jeannie Oliver:Uh, I then worked at a nonprofit for a while, an acupuncture school, and
Jeannie Oliver:realized that I wanted to be on the other side of the table, and that's
Jeannie Oliver:when I decided to become a naturopath.
Jeannie Oliver:Awesome.
Jeannie Oliver:That's fascinating to not know that you had struggle with lime, so
Jeannie Oliver:that's really encouraging, inspiring.
Jeannie Oliver:And Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Brooke Whites welcome.
Jeannie Oliver:Tell us a little bit about
Dr. Brooke Weitz:yourself.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Hi, thanks for having me.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I'm a huge fan of yours and, uh, I, I wanna thank you for just having this space
Dr. Brooke Weitz:for people to talk and share and for all the work that you do and that you've been
Dr. Brooke Weitz:doing for all your clients and people that you're opening their world too.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Food is medicine and I really believe in that.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, and my path to becoming a naturopathic doctor was really more natural in a
Dr. Brooke Weitz:sense that I didn't ever have a, a.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Illness or something that, that led me to the medicine because I was
Dr. Brooke Weitz:failed by the system or it was a last resort like many of my patients.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But this was something that was kind of in front of me all along
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and it was a way of life for me.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:My dad is an naturopathic doctor, so I'm a second generation naturopath.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, and I never thought of it as a career until I graduated with
Dr. Brooke Weitz:a business degree and photography minor . So I had a very, none of that
Dr. Brooke Weitz:very long path to going to bae really.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I had, I went to school, um, after my four year degree for two more
Dr. Brooke Weitz:full time years of school to get to the zero point of at bae, and
Dr. Brooke Weitz:that was another five year degree.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I loved every, every minute of it, basically living the.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:This utopia of naturopathic medicine at the hub in Washington and Seattle
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and walk in the walk every day.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I feel like there's a big discrepancy in medicine and with healthcare that
Dr. Brooke Weitz:not only is it not healthcare, it's sick care, it's not working on prevention.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It's not working on optimization, It's working after the fact and
Dr. Brooke Weitz:it's completely upside down.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So, so many of the practitioners are not a example of health themselves,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and it's, it's really hard to, to take advice from, from a, a glass half empty
Dr. Brooke Weitz:or, or a place where you're, you're not able to thrive and that doesn't view.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Health as basically the way we do, the way Dr.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Saunders, Dr.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Anderson Saunders and I do.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, and a lot of the other naturopathic doctors.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It's a completely different, uh, paradigm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And, you know, a lot of people ask me, what's the difference between,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you know, you know, this us them and this conventional and the functional
Dr. Brooke Weitz:or commissional and naturopathic.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And really, I feel like it's the, how we approach the body mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and all of our tools, we have so many more tools other than drugs.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Right.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I always say, you know, if, if everything was taken away from me, if,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you know, the FDA has pulled quite a few things that I really, that I used
Dr. Brooke Weitz:lately, uh, recently actually, like, uh, Thymus and Alpha, for example.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But there's a lot of, you know, I could help someone with just my hands.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:, like literally just my hands.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Because in, in our, in our medicine, we learn visceral man, we learn
Dr. Brooke Weitz:chiropractic or naturopathic manipulation.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We learn.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:All different types of hands on body work, cran sac, um, active release
Dr. Brooke Weitz:technique, all different types of things that you can help someone
Dr. Brooke Weitz:with, literally only your hands.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And then you add on the herbs that we learned, the Western and the Eastern, and
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you add the diet and the supplementation, and you can have an entire foundation
Dr. Brooke Weitz:of health before you even recommend a single, you know, before you even
Dr. Brooke Weitz:have to get to a, a pharmaceutical.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And we do have pharmaceutical, you know, a scope and we have pharmaceutical
Dr. Brooke Weitz:rights, but it's, I love that we have so many tools in our toolbox
Dr. Brooke Weitz:that we can take a lot of people off of these drugs actually right.
Jeannie Oliver:Safely.
Jeannie Oliver:The food and the herbs usually don't have the same level of side
Jeannie Oliver:effects and you're addressing more of the root causes or what's at the
Jeannie Oliver:foundation of someone's symptoms versus just addressing the symptoms.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Absolutely.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Absolutely.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:I love it.
Jeannie Oliver:And I have to say, I have, Preferred patients or my clients to you who
Jeannie Oliver:have become your patients and have seen really profound results when
Jeannie Oliver:they have struggled for a long time to get results from, you know, a, a
Jeannie Oliver:typical MD within the insurance system.
Jeannie Oliver:And look, just to be clear too, like we're not bashing regular doctors or MDs
Jeannie Oliver:because space for that are wonderful and awful people in every facet of medicine.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, it's much like politics.
Jeannie Oliver:I think that way.
Jeannie Oliver:, there's a spectrum, right?
Jeannie Oliver:But I think that their hands are tied in many ways.
Jeannie Oliver:Like, like you said, the toolbox is smaller and their time is very
Jeannie Oliver:limited what they have to offer.
Jeannie Oliver:Whereas, you know, if you see a naturopathic doctor, often you're
Jeannie Oliver:seeing them for an hour, maybe longer.
Jeannie Oliver:Mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:. And you are being looked at as a whole person made up of all these
Jeannie Oliver:interconnected systems versus in a vacuum, you know, someone that's just
Jeannie Oliver:addressing your heart issues or just addressing maybe, you know, A lung or a
Jeannie Oliver:pulmonary issue or something like that.
Jeannie Oliver:So it's good to have you guys here and I just am so inspired by you.
Jeannie Oliver:And, one of the things that has shifted so much in recent times is the prominence
Jeannie Oliver:of social media in all of our lives.
Jeannie Oliver:So I love for each of you to talk just a little bit about how social media has
Jeannie Oliver:created more confusion in the realm of health and wellness for us, and, um, you
Jeannie Oliver:know, how that creates that information overload and what your take is on that.
Jeannie Oliver:What, what shifts you've seen.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So I'll, I'll go first.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I think as with all things and, and especially during the
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:pandemic, I think a lot of.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Got, uh, an overload of social media.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:You know, it's been term doomsday scrolling, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:We just keep, keep going, uh, as your only way to connect to, to humanity.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:But you, as, as we've gotten kind of outside of that realm of isolation, still,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:there's been this huge opening to an array of people that didn't used to be on social
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:media that now are, and also people going on to social media and, and realizing
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:that it's an outlet for communication.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And the, the beauty of that is you're exposed to a lot of new ideas.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Many people who have never heard of naturopathic medicine are now hearing
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:about it because of social media.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:People are learning about nutrition and, um, supplements and herbs and
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:acupuncture and things that, that they would've never been exposed to.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Uh, especially if you live maybe in a smaller town.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:You know, if you're not in a big city, there's not as many options
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:to, to be exposed to things.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So there's, there's good things about that, but it is hard to.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Differentiate between what is, um, an ad versus what is medical advice.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And unfortunately on social media, even something that doesn't look like
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:an ad, uh, if it's, for example, a social influencer, those people are
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:getting some sort of kickback for the things that they talk about.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And it may be someone that you like and respect and you, you like
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:a lot of other things about them.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And they may promote a product and they will say, This product changed my life.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:This is what you need to do to sleep, to have good energy, to
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:lose weight, to change your mood.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And it's, it's not a personalized recommendation.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And there's a little bit of question mark behind that recommendation because that
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:person's getting a bit of a kickback.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So there's, there's pros and cons to it, and that is where it's a good idea.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:beyond social media and do your research and read about things and follow journal,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:journal articles and news stories so that then you have your list of questions.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And then you go to your trusted and respected license partner.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:In healthcare.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Right.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And that partner in healthcare can be your coach, it can be your
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:physician, it can be your counselor, it can be your psychiatrist,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:it can be all of those people.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:If you ever read reviews about me, people will say, I love that Dr.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Saunders refers me out to, to people.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I don't hesitate to get other medical providers advice.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And we may disagree.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And I tell my patients that.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I say, You know, this Dr.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:May say this and I'm gonna say this.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And you get to hear what we both of us say.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And then you get to.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:decide what you want to do with your body.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:based off of these informed medical opinions.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And so yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Social media is a good place to create questions to then bring to
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:someone who can help you differentiate what is useful and what's a fad.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:Exactly.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:That's a, that's a good way of putting it.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:I like
Dr. Brooke Weitz:how you said that you're empowering people to
Dr. Brooke Weitz:be their own self advocate, cuz I think that's really important for
Dr. Brooke Weitz:all of us and to have a care team.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You also mentioned, I think that's really important that we have experts in their
Dr. Brooke Weitz:field that are licensed and credentialed that, or that are your people that
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you feel like are a good fit for you.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:that are your go-tos.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Even if it's someone like your primary care Naturalpathic doctor or
Dr. Brooke Weitz:otherwise, that's quarterbacking it.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:That is one of the things I view as my job is to know.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:The best people to refer to.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I feel like as a, as a primary care doc, if I can send someone to an amazing
Dr. Brooke Weitz:specialist or someone that can fill that niche that, that they're needing, then
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I'm doing a really good job at my job.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So, so much of my job is really understanding other people's work as well.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But you'll hear, this person on social media for example, and they've got the
Dr. Brooke Weitz:body you want, or they've got the look you want, they can do the exercise
Dr. Brooke Weitz:program that, you know, if you could do that, then you're, it's none of
Dr. Brooke Weitz:that's true that unless you are checking one, you have to know your body type
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and your metabolic type and your.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Labs, you know, all of these things cuz you can do the same
Dr. Brooke Weitz:diet, the same genetic exercise.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:The genetic, that's a huge, huge one.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You can do the exact same thing and get none of the same results.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And that's one of the things I love about naturopathic medicine is that
Dr. Brooke Weitz:it's so individualized and personalized and we're consistently checking in
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and, and changing it as we need to as we go because we have so many options.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But it's also, like you said, looking at the whole person and not just,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and the interplay of systems and not just focusing in on, on one system.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It's really looking at the, the layers of it.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, another thing is a safety issue with social media.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I think that there's a lot of people that can do a lot of damage even with
Dr. Brooke Weitz:like, something like celery juice.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Not to, not to call anyone out, but Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know, things like that seem that are.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Very much of a fad.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Or that seem like they work for all the thousands of people that respond to that.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It's the magic bullet.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:The magic bullet.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:To solve all your problems if you hear that
Dr. Brooke Weitz:run, run away in any realm, in any arena.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:That's, that's, And then also a lot of the, the people that, that
Dr. Brooke Weitz:maybe are more founded or that maybe are more professional and experts
Dr. Brooke Weitz:in that field will have research and they'll post the research.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And then you have to look at the research and see, you know,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:who pays for the research.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But it's still, you know, the, the layers of, you know, are they selling something?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Are they, you know, 20 and can drink, you know, vodka all day
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and smoke and still look the same?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know, it's like, let's, let's be filter it through.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Well, one common sense and motivation, but also knowing if
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you don't know what your body.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Type and what your body needs and what your limitations are like, that's a
Dr. Brooke Weitz:really good place to start and no matter what the product is that they're trying
Jeannie Oliver:to sell.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with that.
Jeannie Oliver:Megan's raising your hand.
Jeannie Oliver:Go
Jeannie Oliver:. Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders: You tell,
Jeannie Oliver:the example I like to use for folks is there's no supplement that I can give you
Jeannie Oliver:that's gonna replace lack of sleep, right?
Jeannie Oliver:So you're gonna see something on social media and be like, Take this earth, Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:So-and-so's new product and you're gonna have tons of energy.
Jeannie Oliver:It's gonna help your mood.
Jeannie Oliver:And people come in all the time and I ask them, How much sleep are you getting?
Jeannie Oliver:And they're like, Well, I go to bed at one and I wake up at
Jeannie Oliver:five . And we stopped there, right?
Jeannie Oliver:And they asked me, What can you give me?
Jeannie Oliver:That can help with that.
Jeannie Oliver:Well, nothing . Nothing.
Jeannie Oliver:Nothing.
Jeannie Oliver:You know, if I could prescribe Adderall, it's outta my scope
Jeannie Oliver:of practice as a naturopath.
Jeannie Oliver:If I could maybe that give you some extra kick, but long term, that's not
Jeannie Oliver:gonna fix your problem to create others.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Your problem is not an Adderall deficiency.
Jeannie Oliver:Your problem is a lack of sleep.
Jeannie Oliver:Right?
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:And if you're struggling to sleep well, let's look at those causes, what's
Jeannie Oliver:going on there behind the scenes, really dig in causing sleep issues.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:it's like fashion.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know, when you see something that looks amazing on the models, , like,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:hey, well we know that that dress might not look good on everyone, so why in
Dr. Brooke Weitz:the world would a workout or a diet or a supplement work for everyone?
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:And something that you always say too, Brooke, that I love is, you know, Where
Jeannie Oliver:did we get this idea that nothing's gonna change, that we can always do the
Jeannie Oliver:same thing like that whatever worked for us in our twenties should work.
Jeannie Oliver:Now.
Jeannie Oliver:It's like, well, I used to just be able to drop weight immediately,
Jeannie Oliver:going to more cardio every week.
Jeannie Oliver:And why doesn't that work anymore?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I hear it every day.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:, every day.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I used to do this, I used to do that.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And another thing I always ask is it, you know, especially with men,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I noticed more is when's the last time you changed your workout?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:know, I had a patient yesterday and I could tell, I was like, Let me
Dr. Brooke Weitz:guess you do back buys on Monday.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Chest try on Tuesday.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yes.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And, you know, typical five days, skip leg days every once in a while, . And
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you know, and he is like, Yeah, my wife calls me out for scooping leg day.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And it's like, it's, it's, we need to train, exercise, sleep,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:eat, think for our current state
Jeannie Oliver:of Yes.
Jeannie Oliver:Health Yes.
Jeannie Oliver:And current goals.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:And.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah, challenges everything.
Jeannie Oliver:And our bodies are so complex and dynamic, and I talk about this all the time,
Jeannie Oliver:that women's bodies are like a modern day, I don't know, supercar and men's
Jeannie Oliver:are more like a circuit, 1980s Honda.
Jeannie Oliver:They're just a little more simple analog, easily prepared.
Jeannie Oliver:And when we have all this, you know, research that is conducted with mostly
Jeannie Oliver:college age male subjects mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:it doesn't necessarily apply to us gals.
Jeannie Oliver:It's a little more complex.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:exactly.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:So circling back and you know, I have to interject, and I should have
Jeannie Oliver:said this early on when you first introduce yourself, Brooke, but Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Whites is the reason that I am even here, that I do this today.
Jeannie Oliver:She was my inspiration.
Jeannie Oliver:So back when you were personal training, while you were in medical school, I met
Jeannie Oliver:you and I was sharing training sessions with a friend and working out with you.
Jeannie Oliver:And I wasn't really into it yet.
Jeannie Oliver:I wasn't super
Dr. Brooke Weitz:motivated.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Oh, I can speak to that.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I did not.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I, if you had told me in 10 years this woman is gonna be the health
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and diet guru, I would've never.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Believed it.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You didn't, your flip hadn't switched yet.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It just hadn't, Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Your switch hadn't flipped yet.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:, and that I can't, I can't, If I could bottle that up and give that to
Dr. Brooke Weitz:people, I would, wouldn't have a job.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Really.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But if, But that was, I met you and you were Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You, You were showing up though.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You were showing up, and then all of a sudden you just took off and then
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you did the metabolic effect training.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Right.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:That I had had done and kept going.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And that was an inspiration to me.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Big time.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:But you got me into it.
Jeannie Oliver:Fitness was kind of the catalyst and then it was like, well, if I'm working
Jeannie Oliver:hard and I'm doing all this stuff, like I probably should fuel myself appropriately.
Jeannie Oliver:. Yeah, absolutely.
Jeannie Oliver:So thank you for that.
Jeannie Oliver:But you were an athlete yourself.
Jeannie Oliver:You were a division one volleyball player, right?
Jeannie Oliver:I was.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I was.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:That was my first, um, actually gymnastics was my first passion.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Which is crazy cuz you're so tall.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It Yep.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It, I had to give it up kind of early, but, Well I stayed, I held
Dr. Brooke Weitz:on a little too long, but, um, I started, my brother introduced me
Dr. Brooke Weitz:to volleyball when I was around nine and I just fell in love with it.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I still play as many days as I can.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Still still.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:That's, so I was actually, that's a funny that you mentioned about the, you
Dr. Brooke Weitz:know, I used to be able to do this and I used to be able to that and I remember
Dr. Brooke Weitz:playing with women that were, that were better than me and it was really.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:. It was really hard because, you know, sometimes they wouldn't invite me to play.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And, and then it got to the point where I started getting
Dr. Brooke Weitz:better than, than they are.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And then now some of 'em aren't even able to play.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And they're, they're, they're injured or they're overweight or they're,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you know, they're just struggling.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:A lot of struggling with something health wise.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And so now my, my mantra is like, Hey, I'm, I'm here for the long game.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Like, if I can just play and, and stay healthy and not
Dr. Brooke Weitz:be injured, I'm, I'm happy.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know, I'd love to win.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I still love to compete, of course, but I'm starting to see like all
Dr. Brooke Weitz:of the things like pay off that I'm actually still playing, which is you.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Which
Jeannie Oliver:is such a testament to consistency, right?
Jeannie Oliver:And to doing those fundamental things like paying attention to your nutrition,
Jeannie Oliver:good self care, prioritizing sleep, um, getting body work, having that care team
Jeannie Oliver:in place because, you know, again, our bodies are this amazing complex machine.
Jeannie Oliver:Like if we're hiring mechanics to make sure that our cars are running
Jeannie Oliver:well and financial advisors and tax experts and people to make sure these
Jeannie Oliver:aspects of our lives are all working and in place, why would we not do
Jeannie Oliver:that for our body and our health?
Jeannie Oliver:Which is the
Dr. Brooke Weitz:most crucial thing, right?
Jeannie Oliver:Just to have good quality of life and better
Jeannie Oliver:longevity or health span rather.
Jeannie Oliver:Absolutely.
Jeannie Oliver:So coming back to natural medicine, you know, over.
Jeannie Oliver:The stretch of the pandemic.
Jeannie Oliver:We saw a lot of just weird stuff going on.
Jeannie Oliver:Snake oil, kind of strange things.
Jeannie Oliver:Some remedies actually in the long run panned out to have some
Jeannie Oliver:validity and some definitely did not.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, but I, you know, it definitely, I think resulted in more distrust
Jeannie Oliver:in alternative health treatments for a certain group of people.
Jeannie Oliver:It became really polarized.
Jeannie Oliver:You were either like all cdc, all conventional medicine, or you were
Jeannie Oliver:grouped into this, other kind of hippie woo woo, like pseudoscience group.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:So I would love you each to tell a little more about your philosophy as far
Jeannie Oliver:as just striking that healthy balance.
Jeannie Oliver:And Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Megan, you touched on this briefly that you know, You use pharmaceuticals and
Jeannie Oliver:things like this when they're appropriate.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, but I'd love for you just to each kind of give a super brief overview on,
Jeannie Oliver:you know, how you strike that really healthy balance between preventative
Jeannie Oliver:and natural treatments, and then also utilizing, you know, western or
Jeannie Oliver:conventional treatments when necessary.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So I would say that to the, to the question on the pandemic that it,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:it's, it was an interesting experience.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I think as naturopaths we were very uniquely positioned to speak to, uh,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:a lot of different audiences that maybe weren't open to conversations.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So I normally will, during an intake with a new patient, I, you know,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:will go through a review of systems.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And when I'm talking about lung health, I'll say, So have you gotten covid?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Have you gotten vaccinated?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Neither or both.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, and I, I try not to, I try to say that as, even as tone as possible without
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:relaying any sort of judgment on that.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, because if people ask my medical opinion, I will, I will
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:tell them what I recommend for them.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And if I feel strongly that I need to interject it in terms of like the question
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:of to get vaccinated for covid or not, I, I will say something, but especially
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:at this point, everyone's gotten all the information they're gonna get.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:People have made up their minds.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And what's interesting is when I approach it that way, um, people
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:will then ask me questions.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:People who, when they get their backs up, because they've had doctors just
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:tell them, Well, you have to do this.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:, you have to get vaccinated, or, I'm not gonna see you.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And um, now I've had people who will ask me, Well, what do you think about this?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I have some concerns.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And then we have a conversation about, Pros and cons and risks and benefits and,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:and because I'm a naturopath, uh, because I, I understand some concerns and I
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:understand that the natural health options as well, it's an easier conversation.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And, um, I, I personally have been vaccinated.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I've talked about it on my social media platforms.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:It's not a secret.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And, and I, I have seen, and, and I think the, the risk and
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:benefit is, is outweighed there.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And I have the tools to, you know, I've take increased sync and
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:vitamin A and I have a whole immune supportive herbal dispenser dispensary
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:at my, um, at my fingertips for myself that I, that I use mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:and that I can recommend for patients for general immune support.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:. And so having, The broad spectrum of being able to have a conversation of, Yes, I
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:hear that you heard on social media that you, um, don't need to worry about covid
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:as long as you take enough vitamin D.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Like I, I hear that.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And yeah, I've seen those studies and those are really interesting
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:studies and absolutely we should be checking your vitamin D Yes.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And making sure that you take it and yeah, let's do some high doses of
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:it if you know that you have covid acutely, not long term because you
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:don't wanna get a kidney stone, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Which can happen if you take too much vitamin D.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:But also let's talk about the, the mainstream aspects and let's talk
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:about a vaccine or pyl or if you need an inhaler or all of those things.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So that's to that point acutely for Covid.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, but then in the broader spectrum of things, I would say young, mid
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:twenties, me going into naturopathic school, looking at me now with.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:A decent amount of life experience, both personal life experience medically,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:and then also the experience of working with patients and having the
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:privilege of, of seeing people's life struggles and, and walking through them.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Uh, younger, younger me, for example, would've been like, I'm gonna have an
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:all natural birth and no epidural, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And me having had two kids pro epidural, go for it.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Whatever you need to do to get a healthy baby that sounds great.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Or a natural birth, that's, that's fine.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:It's whatever's best for you and your outcomes.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I'm not gonna sacrifice someone's health for, uh, a personal philosophy.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And, and my philosophy is changed.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And the example that I give to.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Is if someone comes in with a uti, I'm gonna say, Let's push a lot of
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:water, let's do some D manos and some cranberry and maybe some juniper, and
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:we're gonna high dose it and you're gonna leave with a prescription.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And we're running a culture in sensitivity way.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And if your symptoms are not getting better, if they're getting worse
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:after X amount of hours, then you're gonna start this prescription.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And by the way, while you're on the prescription, having a prescription is
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:better than having a kidney infection.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yes.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:But we know that there's side effects of being on an antibiotic like risk
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:of getting a cicil infection, which is for people that don't know a severe
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:infection of the the colon that can occur when you're on an antibiotic
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:and you go into the hospital for that.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, then we're also gonna have you take ssis bdi, which in the
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:research prevents c diffic cell infections when we're on antibiotics.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And then we're gonna do like six months of probiotics afterwards
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:to help repopulate the gut flos.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So, We're gonna pick the best intervention at this time for your health, at
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:the right level of intervention.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I'm not gonna give someone a kidney infection, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Cause I don't want them to be on antibiotic.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, but that said, also, all of these foundations of health pieces
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:that we do as a naturopath, um, um, make the drugs work better, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Right.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So if you need a drug, if you have, you know, I don't know, lupus
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:or, or something, and you're on hydroxychloroquine or something
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:like that, and you need that, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:It's protecting your kidneys, it's protecting it, It's keeping
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:everything under control.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:You're not going to need to escalate on that drug or add in other biologics
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:or need to be on prednisone if you're doing all the other things.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:An anti-inflammatory diet, and we're managing stress, which can affect your
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:inflammatory markers like C R P, and we're doing all these other things so that you
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:can get away with the lowest dose at the most benefit of the prescription, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Which is what we want long term, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:We don't want a bunch of drugs just to keep our biomarkers on board.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:We want the most freedom in our lives, and whether that is with a
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:prescription or with an herb or with nutrition or whatever that might be,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:that's what I want for my patients,
Jeannie Oliver:and I think that's so exciting for people to hear that are not
Jeannie Oliver:as familiar with this because I think that, you know, this one pronged approach
Jeannie Oliver:of just, just getting the prescription.
Jeannie Oliver:Doesn't always address all these things and it doesn't
Jeannie Oliver:necessarily offer prevention.
Jeannie Oliver:And you know, what I'm hearing you say is the term like complimentary
Jeannie Oliver:medicine, like these things can all work in concert together in
Jeannie Oliver:a really beautiful, elegant way.
Jeannie Oliver:And also, you know, what you're talking about is more empowering
Jeannie Oliver:to the client because it's not just take this med and then they're,
Jeannie Oliver:they're given no other tools.
Jeannie Oliver:You're giving them all these other tools, whether it be diet, lifestyle, um, you
Jeannie Oliver:know, you're referring them to other experts and essentially helping them.
Jeannie Oliver:Hone in on their own intuition and discernment for, well,
Jeannie Oliver:what's gonna work best?
Jeannie Oliver:That's
Dr. Brooke Weitz:such a good for my body because they can't
Dr. Brooke Weitz:prescribe this for themselves.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So, but what can they do?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Right?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:That they can empower that, that they feel like they have control is the choices
Dr. Brooke Weitz:they make with hydration, with diet, with exercise, with movement, with meditation.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Like, that's such a good point.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Because what, what we give, you know, what, what conventional
Dr. Brooke Weitz:doctors give them, they can't necessarily give themselves mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:but so what can you do in the meantime or in between visits and prevention?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And then, like, to answer the, the broader question, I love, this is where
Dr. Brooke Weitz:naturopathic medicine shines, is because we, I call it like head on a swivel.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It's like, okay, cool.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:What do you wanna do?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I can do this.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You wanna go climb a mountain?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Cool.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:What do you wanna go play in this tournament?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Or you wanna go like, I'm ready.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Like I try to keep myself like personally and like my patients, you
Dr. Brooke Weitz:know, not necessarily necessarily athletically, but if they want
Dr. Brooke Weitz:like ready for literally anything.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So when a virus hits, hey, That's, We are ready for that.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Cuz we have gotten that whole, we've, it's like the garden, Like we've, we have good
Dr. Brooke Weitz:soil, we've worked on the foundational pieces of health and maybe we the terrain.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Absolutely the terrain, you know.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And in my doctor, um, can I say my doctor's name?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:She is, she's, uh, one of the best I, in my opinion anyway,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:she's a naturopathic doctor.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:One of the, one of the original, uh, elders.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I was gonna say gangsters, but both.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But, you know, she has the, the, she always gives me like a GPA on the basics.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It's like, what's your hydration?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Like what's your supplementation?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:How's your sleep?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:How's your stress?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:How's your diet?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:How's your exercise?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I, I like to add a few things like, you know, community.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yes.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And, and what are doing to fill your own cup.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And, you know, the, the self care, which, not to go on a huge tangent,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:but you were talking about about.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:About that earlier.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I think that women especially are so almost apologetic about self care
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and, you know, oh, oh, you took a nap.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Oh, that must be nice.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Right?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I mean, even just like a passing comment about something to, to fill
Dr. Brooke Weitz:your own cup so that, let alone, so that you can help other people.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Cuz like most of us, that's what we're doing.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Whether it's, you know, our job if especially, but our children.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, or just to be able to be present like for the world or
Dr. Brooke Weitz:for yourself or, you know, in the moment, whatever, whatever that is.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But we, we just, we somehow thrive or, or think that it's a badge of honor
Dr. Brooke Weitz:to, I, I think that is work bone.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I think that's, it is changing, but I do feel.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Other like that we judge each other for doing self care and really we
Dr. Brooke Weitz:need to be applauding or saying, Hey, let's go do this together, or Right.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Or checking in.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It's like you would check in on someone if they were sick, but you need to check
Dr. Brooke Weitz:in on people so that they don't, Don't.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Exactly.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Exactly.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So yeah, I think that naturopathic.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Medicine absolutely shines in that we, we work on that foundational piece
Dr. Brooke Weitz:so that when you do get accosted, which you will, when you do have an
Dr. Brooke Weitz:introduction, whether it's, you know, you're flying on an airplane or you're
Dr. Brooke Weitz:around a kid, or you know, who just started daycare, you know, we are, we
Dr. Brooke Weitz:are immune system's ready and is we're is able to do what it is supposed to do.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We've removed obstacles from cure.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We've supported the systems, we've optimized the nutrients,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and so our body does respond.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So when you get covid, for example, you know, and, and of course everyone's
Dr. Brooke Weitz:different and is working with a different gene full, which you do bathe your
Dr. Brooke Weitz:genes, of course your genes are only expressed how, what you bake them in.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So we can have it, you know, a tough, you know, be dealt tough
Dr. Brooke Weitz:deck, but you know, or a hand.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But when it really matters.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We, how, what we do to express or not express them.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So we have a lot of control.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, another thing my Naturalpathic doctor says is, health is
Dr. Brooke Weitz:freedom from limitation.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I love that.
Jeannie Oliver:I love that statement.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:I've repeated that before too.
Jeannie Oliver:Health is freedom from limitation.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:It's powerful.
Jeannie Oliver:I mean, think about that for a second.
Jeannie Oliver:You know, if you're truly healthy, I mean, that means that you can move and
Jeannie Oliver:live and travel and be with your brand.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:All of those things.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I have patients say often, I just wish that I could blank or mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I don't feel like I'm free to blank.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And that always pops up for me.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And that's why I think like the longevity game, like the long game,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:it's like, okay, yeah, my, my mission, my is the long game and right.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And it's, and it has to be a little bit in all the categories every day.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Right.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And you know, and myPath always says to me like, Your saving grace is your
Dr. Brooke Weitz:exercise, and then you eat Well, Brooke, if you didn't, you'd be failing.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So it's, you know, obviously you can't, you can compensate a little
Dr. Brooke Weitz:bit with other categories, but we have to be doing all of it.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:That's the magic
Jeannie Oliver:bullet.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:That's the magic bullet.
Jeannie Oliver:And it's not quick or easy necessarily, but that's really the difference here.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:I mean, I, I hear so often that people say, Well, I don't want to feel deprived
Jeannie Oliver:when it comes to making food choices.
Jeannie Oliver:Mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:. And what I sell them is, well, you're already starting to, especially
Jeannie Oliver:if they're starting to see health issues already, you know, and they're
Jeannie Oliver:experiencing limitations because of that.
Jeannie Oliver:And so having them kind of examine, well, which do I want more?
Jeannie Oliver:It's their choice, The tasty thing or whatever that I don't wanna give up or.
Jeannie Oliver:That, you know, excess, whatever it might be, sugar, alcohol, you name it,
Jeannie Oliver:whatever, you know, your, your go to thing is, or, you know, do you wish
Jeannie Oliver:in the moment that you could enjoy just being on the beach with your
Jeannie Oliver:family and like, not like, and being able to, you know, snor or skydive or
Dr. Brooke Weitz:run, jump,
Jeannie Oliver:whatever it might be that you're not able to do right
Jeannie Oliver:now, Like, in the long run, what are you gonna care about more?
Jeannie Oliver:And people don't think of it that way.
Jeannie Oliver:So it's really just a mindset shift.
Jeannie Oliver:It's like you're depriving yourself of something.
Jeannie Oliver:It's a choice.
Jeannie Oliver:Mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:, Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:
Jeannie Oliver:One of my favorite topics that, that I talk with people a lot
Jeannie Oliver:about is, is mental health.
Jeannie Oliver:And so, One of the ways I talk to people about, right, So if you're
Jeannie Oliver:we're looking at labs and someone is, you know, prediabetic, like
Jeannie Oliver:they have metabolic syndrome, my cholesterols up the prediabetic,
Jeannie Oliver:there's a lot of things going on.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, a lot of people have a general idea.
Jeannie Oliver:Maybe they don't know exactly what they should be doing, but they kind
Jeannie Oliver:of know like, yay shouldn't be eating burgers and chocolate every day in soda.
Jeannie Oliver:Like they know they, Yeah, people know those kind of basic things.
Jeannie Oliver:They might know, not know exactly how to do it, but they know that part.
Jeannie Oliver:And I, I tell folks.
Jeannie Oliver:and my goal in referring people to work with like a health coach or a
Jeannie Oliver:nutritionist or any sort of specialist for like meal planning is to, to
Jeannie Oliver:help them, you know, get an idea of, of how to, to dial in those pieces.
Jeannie Oliver:But a lot of it is around, it's a symptom and it's, it's a mental health symptom.
Jeannie Oliver:If we're driving off a cliff quickly and you saw someone doing it
Jeannie Oliver:quickly, you'd be like, Oh, they're having a mental health problem.
Jeannie Oliver:This is, this is self-harm.
Jeannie Oliver:And to some extent, the same thing can be said about these behaviors, right?
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:So if we know that we're smoking and we know that that's a slow
Jeannie Oliver:drive off the cliff, right?
Jeannie Oliver:If we know that our diet and lifestyle choices are causing us
Jeannie Oliver:to develop type two diabetes, it's, it's a slow drive off the cliff.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:And it, it is.
Jeannie Oliver:It is a, it is a mental health sentiment.
Jeannie Oliver:So I normally talk to people about, Okay, well why You mentioned feeling deprived.
Jeannie Oliver:Well, why do we feel like I, like I really, I love BNE Brown
Jeannie Oliver:and, and anyone who doesn't know who she is, you can Google her.
Jeannie Oliver:She has the number one TED Talk ever.
Jeannie Oliver:And, um, she, she at one point mentions on one of her podcasts about the
Jeannie Oliver:difference between eating a piece of chocolate, where it's like, Give
Jeannie Oliver:me the damn piece of chocolate.
Jeannie Oliver:And you're like, Grandma, I need some chocolate.
Jeannie Oliver:Is using the chocolate.
Jeannie Oliver:My memory of her, her reflection of this versus the, mm, this,
Jeannie Oliver:this chocolate is so good.
Jeannie Oliver:I'm just gonna have a piece of the tastes really good.
Jeannie Oliver:This is delicious.
Jeannie Oliver:I'm enjoying it.
Jeannie Oliver:I'm present.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah, same chocolate, savoring it, same calories, really experiencing it.
Jeannie Oliver:Same.
Jeannie Oliver:, but the, the impulse, the grab, the, I need a piece of chocolate, I
Jeannie Oliver:need a cigarette, I need a burger, I need a soda, I need whatever.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:That's from anxiety, that's from stress, that's from overwork.
Jeannie Oliver:That's a mental health symptom.
Jeannie Oliver:And normally when I have patients that they're struggling with that
Jeannie Oliver:I, I talk to them about that and I say, Hey, do you have a counselor?
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Like, let's not, She does say that a lot.
Jeannie Oliver:You totally, I do.
Jeannie Oliver:I do say that a lot.
Jeannie Oliver:I refer all the time for this.
Jeannie Oliver:And, and, and people think that if they, just going back to the social
Jeannie Oliver:media thing, they want the bullet, they want the diet that's gonna
Jeannie Oliver:fix it for them and make that easy.
Jeannie Oliver:But actually what works is the long term slow and steady lifelong
Jeannie Oliver:changes that allow you to.
Jeannie Oliver:Enjoy the chocolate.
Jeannie Oliver:Mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:have some ice cream that, that's fine.
Jeannie Oliver:Do that once a week.
Jeannie Oliver:Whatever.
Jeannie Oliver:Do your thing.
Jeannie Oliver:As long as long term, the overall average is health and wellness.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:And, and so that's, that's, and and another important piece about that, that
Jeannie Oliver:gets stigmatized a lot is sometimes I see patients and it's too overwhelming
Jeannie Oliver:to even think about calling a counselor.
Jeannie Oliver:They're so far down the hole.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:And then we talk about prescriptions and getting, there's a, there's a lot of, of
Jeannie Oliver:stigma around that, but when you're so far down the hole that you can't imagine
Jeannie Oliver:pulling yourself out, that's when I say like, Let's talk about some Zoloft.
Jeannie Oliver:Let's talk about some, you know, let's talk about some Lexapro.
Jeannie Oliver:Let's, let's talk about these things.
Jeannie Oliver:And I never prescribe a mental health medication without also,
Jeannie Oliver:telling a patient the plan is for you to go to a counselor.
Jeannie Oliver:This is not a forever fix.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:For you, this is a, when it's too overwhelming to think
Jeannie Oliver:about calling a counselor.
Jeannie Oliver:Mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:, we're gonna get on a medication so that you can still go to your job, be a
Jeannie Oliver:parent, do the things that you can do, keep walking forward while you're doing
Jeannie Oliver:the things that you need to do so that you don't need to be on a medication.
Jeannie Oliver:And there's a lot of stigma around that, and especially patients
Jeannie Oliver:who come and see a naturopath.
Jeannie Oliver:Folks don't want to be on a medication and they're tired of doctor.
Jeannie Oliver:They're tired of walking into a doctor's office and the doctor being like, You
Jeannie Oliver:just need to go on an antidepressant.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:And it's the same thing as the chocolate.
Jeannie Oliver:Like, I may be prescribing an antidepressant, but I'm not
Jeannie Oliver:telling him this is the fix.
Jeannie Oliver:I'm telling him this is the hand up.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:While we do, And then there's other things too.
Jeannie Oliver:There's so many herbs and supplements and other things that can also
Jeannie Oliver:help with mood and, and, and all of these other approaches, but.
Jeannie Oliver:I mental health is one of those really important steps to freedom.
Jeannie Oliver:Going back to, to that piece, and as a naturopath, we talk a lot about, that's
Jeannie Oliver:we're, we're the quarterback, we're, we're the gp, and we talk about everything.
Jeannie Oliver:Tell me about your poop.
Jeannie Oliver:Tell me about, I was gonna say that, Oh, we talked so much about food in my office.
Jeannie Oliver:Tell me about how many hours a week do you work.
Jeannie Oliver:Work, Tell me about your sleep.
Jeannie Oliver:Tell me about all of this.
Jeannie Oliver:And mental health is a really big one because this isn't, Naturopathic
Jeannie Oliver:medicine is not the easy fix.
Jeannie Oliver:And if you find someone that tells you that it is, they're, they're misleading
Jeannie Oliver:you and it takes a lot of work and you, you've gotta be ready for that.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:And I can absolutely relate to that because I think that,
Jeannie Oliver:you know, um, You're right.
Jeannie Oliver:There's, there's such a stigma around that.
Jeannie Oliver:And if I tell somebody, Well, you just need to eat anti-inflammatory diet, but
Jeannie Oliver:the person is so either depressed or anxiety ridden that they can't navigate
Jeannie Oliver:the grocery store or get themselves out of bed to cook meals for themselves, I'm
Jeannie Oliver:not helping them by telling them that.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:We can have, it's not helping quote perfect
Dr. Brooke Weitz:treatment plan.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But you know, it really is a collaboration.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Like what's meeting them where they're at.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:What do you think you can do?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:, what sounds good.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I also, I kind of stopped asking people about exercise.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I said, I, I, Cuz you know the percentage of people that actually love to go lift
Dr. Brooke Weitz:weights and like pump iron is and is.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Few.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Really, it's a lower percentage of people.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Now.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I happen to be a total gym rat.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So this took me a little while to, to make that shift.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But I, I ask people, and I have heard so many patients say, I'm
Dr. Brooke Weitz:so scared to walk into a gym.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I'm so intimidated.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And it's like, who says the gym is how we get our why?
Jeannie Oliver:Why do you have to run in order to
Dr. Brooke Weitz:wait?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It's so why?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So I say, What do you do for movement?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:What is fun?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:How do you, how do you move your body?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:What is something you enjoy?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:. And that's a, a totally different feeling than me asking someone almost
Dr. Brooke Weitz:like, Well, how much are you exercising?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It's, it's a very different feel and it, and it's like you said, meeting people
Dr. Brooke Weitz:where they are and coming up with a plan.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And even if it's just step one that they are on board with and maybe
Dr. Brooke Weitz:they come up with it for themselves.
Jeannie Oliver:Right, Right.
Jeannie Oliver:So what would you tell people who maybe financially don't have access now?
Jeannie Oliver:I know, you know, I believe both of you and and many naturopaths now
Jeannie Oliver:are accepting in some insurances, which is awesome, but a lot don't.
Jeannie Oliver:And depending on the state that people may live in, you know, that
Jeannie Oliver:may not be an option for them.
Jeannie Oliver:So what would you tell people?
Jeannie Oliver:And even if they do have access to natural medicine, functional medicine, etcetera.
Jeannie Oliver:What are sort of the criteria that you would give them when it comes to
Jeannie Oliver:choosing a physician or maybe the red flags that they should look out for
Jeannie Oliver:when they're looking for that, that care
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:team?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Look at what state you're in if you're looking for a naturopath.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Right.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So in Washington State, I, at the beginning, I'm licensed
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:through the Department of Health as a primary care physician.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:, There are some states that naturopathic medicine is not licensed
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:in, and you can take your weekend.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And call yourself a naturopath.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So buyer beware, you're not allowed to do that.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:In was no one can take a weekend course in Washington State and
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:say that they're a naturopath.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:It's, it's regulated by the primary of health.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I'm a primary care physician.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:. Um, so, so number one, be cautious about that, just cuz someone says the word
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:naturopath, they're online schools.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:They'll say you're now a naturopath and, and it looks legit.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:The degrees look legit.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, and so you can go online to the American Association of Naturopathic
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Physicians and find out what are the, I think there's now five or six
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:accredited schools in North America.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:and that's it.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And if those doctors haven't graduated from there, they are not a licensed
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:primary care naturopathic physician.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Taking insurance doesn't necessarily mean that you are a
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:legitimate physician or not, Right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So like in California, um, naturopath are, are licensed physicians, but
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:aren't able to accept insurance.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:, so still cash based practice.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So that's an important piece.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, if you're in a state that doesn't license naturopaths, then you know, you
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:want to find doctors that are licensed.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:You want a physician that you trust, that you like, that you
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:respect and that listens to you.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, and they might not need to know everything, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:But you need to have a trusting relationship.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And there's a lot of times that I tell my patients, they'll ask me a
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:question and I'll say, I don't know.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I'm gonna look into that.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And because to pretend that I know everything is egotistical
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:and false , and that would be lying to myself if I thought that.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And so you wanna have a doctor that, that you trust, because in the end, you're,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:you're trusting them with your life.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And then to be able to negotiate what's available online and
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:what you should do or not do.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I, I would look into that person's background.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:, what's their training?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Who's sponsoring them?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:What's the, who's paying for, That's a what, where if you're listening to a
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:talk online, who's paying for that talk?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Are they selling those supplements?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And that, that doesn't always, that's not a hundred percent back off, but it
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:does mean read through it with a grain of salt in terms of financial incentive.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:and, and be
Jeannie Oliver:cautious.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:And I, the same thing would go for.
Jeannie Oliver:Any study, right?
Jeannie Oliver:Always look at who is funding it.
Jeannie Oliver:And just because something doesn't have a ton of science behind it
Jeannie Oliver:doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong.
Jeannie Oliver:It just might mean that it's not a big money maker or there's not a lot
Jeannie Oliver:of financial incentive behind it.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, but no, I think those are really, really great points.
Jeannie Oliver:And I think that you said something really cool earlier, Megan, about
Jeannie Oliver:people should speed date their doctor.
Jeannie Oliver:Oh yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:I love that.
Jeannie Oliver:Like, if you don't like the first one, try somebody else.
Jeannie Oliver:Because I think that home, it's just like dating.
Jeannie Oliver:Like you can kind of get an idea of, I like this, but not that.
Jeannie Oliver:Or I think people just need to practice more listening to that gut instinct and
Jeannie Oliver:getting gauge on how does this person, how do I feel around this person?
Jeannie Oliver:Do they give me a good vibe?
Jeannie Oliver:Do I feel like I was heard and seen?
Jeannie Oliver:Um, so I felt like, feel like they were compassionate, like all of those
Jeannie Oliver:things and really starting to listen to our own gut instincts, because
Jeannie Oliver:especially when it comes to doctors, I think that we're taught to sort of be
Jeannie Oliver:like, Oh, well they do know everything.
Jeannie Oliver:Like the doctor said it, this must just be the way it is.
Jeannie Oliver:That must
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:be truth.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Interview them for the job, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So like for a primary care doctor?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I want someone who listens to me that I think is competent, that
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I feel comfortable around with.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:For a neurosurgeon.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I don't care.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:They've been manner, I don't care at all if I get the warm fuzzies about them.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:All I want is that I think they are competent and that they explain
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:to me that I trust their plan.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:That they know what they're doing.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Like I still want the conversation.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I don't want a jerk, but they don't have to gimme the warm fuzzies.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Right.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I just wanna know that they're good.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:But for, for that, the, the quarterback again, Form fuzzies.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Right.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:You wanna trust them and
Jeannie Oliver:like them.
Jeannie Oliver:Absolutely.
Jeannie Oliver:I
Dr. Brooke Weitz:think this is a, a really good topic in terms of
Dr. Brooke Weitz:kind of the, the projection and the evolution of how medicine has been
Dr. Brooke Weitz:where you're seeing a group of, people that use these, walk-in clinics.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:As their, their primary care or when they need a doctor, they don't
Dr. Brooke Weitz:have an established relationship.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And relationship's kind of the key word with a doc.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Or you might have these online forums that you have, like, um, there's a few
Dr. Brooke Weitz:out there where they have that, that's kind of your primary care doc, but you
Dr. Brooke Weitz:don't get to necessarily read forums and you don't get to meet them in person.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Right.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You don't have this longevity, You know, I have patients Sure.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Where I, you know, they're, I know their dog's name and I,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you know, how's the move going?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Or how is, you know, so and so's college going?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:There's, there's, there's a value to that longevity of the relationship
Dr. Brooke Weitz:that is, is not existent when you're going for just a snapshot, Right.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Of a medical advice in, in that particular instance.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But they don't have your entire.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:History and your, and, and not just your health history, but like
Dr. Brooke Weitz:what, what works for you, You know?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Exactly.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And what your, what's your day like, what's your life like?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:What is gonna work for you in, in considering all of these factors?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So having that, so maybe these docs are excellent docs, and these walkin clinic
Dr. Brooke Weitz:docs are, you know, they're, they're great docs, but this is a different, this is
Dr. Brooke Weitz:something that I feel like people should be seeking is this, this quarterback, this
Dr. Brooke Weitz:primary care functional medicine doctor or naturopathic doctor, um, or conventional
Dr. Brooke Weitz:doctor that really knows them and that they really feel a connection with.
Jeannie Oliver:Yes.
Jeannie Oliver:I remember one of the first times I saw a naturopathic doctor and my mind was blown.
Jeannie Oliver:I mean, a, I was like, Hurry up, cuz I don't have . I hadn't planned
Jeannie Oliver:like an hour of my day to be there, but they actually like touched me.
Jeannie Oliver:Now obviously the, you know, depending on again, where we are, I mean, but they
Jeannie Oliver:like looked at my fingernails mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:and were my, you know, did my fingernails have ridges?
Jeannie Oliver:Did I have moons?
Jeannie Oliver:Like they touched my like face and my skull, like all these things and
Jeannie Oliver:actually like, interacted with me.
Jeannie Oliver:And so you can't do that via strictly online visits or telemedicine visits.
Jeannie Oliver:Mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:, I think there's a place, a time and place for all those things.
Jeannie Oliver:I think they're great that people can access more, you know, functional,
Jeannie Oliver:natural approaches to medicine through these, these platforms.
Jeannie Oliver:But I think that, um, It can't make up for that.
Jeannie Oliver:Like you say, that relationship that you establish with someone when they
Jeannie Oliver:actually see you physically mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:trust takes interact with you.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:And get to know who you are and what your life looks like, and what your
Jeannie Oliver:stressors are, and what your relationships
Dr. Brooke Weitz:are.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And it doesn't matter how many Instagram followers you have, that
Dr. Brooke Weitz:is not a direct relationship between the quality of care you're gonna get.
Jeannie Oliver:Exactly.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:And many of the really brilliant practitioners that I know have
Jeannie Oliver:very little social media presence because they have busy practices
Jeannie Oliver:and they don't have time to do it.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:They don't have time to do it.
Jeannie Oliver:And, you know, if that's your focus, great.
Jeannie Oliver:Knock yourself out.
Jeannie Oliver:But, um, yeah, definitely don't be fooled by that.
Jeannie Oliver:If you're looking at someone's Instagram following to gauge their credibility.
Jeannie Oliver:That's, that's definitely a mistake sake.
Jeannie Oliver:So, um,
Jeannie Oliver:Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders: Can I plug one person that
Jeannie Oliver:I think folks should follow?
Jeannie Oliver:If you wanna, if you're in a state and you don't have any primary care naturopathic
Jeannie Oliver:accessibility, you should follow Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Paul Anderson.
Jeannie Oliver:Mm,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I second that.
Jeannie Oliver:He's pretty great.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:I third
Dr. Brooke Weitz:tagging your
Jeannie Oliver:podcast.
Jeannie Oliver:Kudos Dr.
Jeannie Oliver:Paul Anderson.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, alright, so supplements, this is something that we've sort of touched
Jeannie Oliver:on here and there, but as many of you may know, and as the three of
Jeannie Oliver:us definitely know, supplements are a poorly regulated industry.
Jeannie Oliver:There's a lot of garbage out there.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, what are the top tips that you would give our listeners to kind of navigate
Jeannie Oliver:that and make choices so that they know that they're getting what they pay for?
Jeannie Oliver:It's safe.
Jeannie Oliver:It's not gonna harm 'em and it.
Jeannie Oliver:Will hopefully help them versus, you know, flushing their money down the
Jeannie Oliver:toilet for something at, you know, a big box store or something that's Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Literally that's useless or potentially harmful.
Jeannie Oliver:Well,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:do you want I can start, I can start with a few of the things
Dr. Brooke Weitz:that I, that I tell patients because, you know, we use the term primed out
Dr. Brooke Weitz:where, you know, they can get, we're so used to getting something on Amazon.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:, Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Quickly.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And, and the, the platforms that I typically use, you know, I tell
Dr. Brooke Weitz:patients, Okay, we carry about 20.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Or so brands, they, most of them are only, you can only get through
Dr. Brooke Weitz:a, a licensed physician or licensed health healthcare coach or some kind,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and we pick them very carefully.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, so that's one thing is that we've, there's, you know, we've been
Dr. Brooke Weitz:through multiple formulations that do the same thing for PMs, for example.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And this is the one we're choosing to have literally have on our shelf.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:. And it's not just there because it says PMs form, you know, PMs support.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It's, we have tried multiple ones.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So, and we've collected, you know, I've been practicing almost 15 years
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and all, you know, combined, we've all, so the ones that we have hand
Dr. Brooke Weitz:literally handpicked because they work.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, another thing is every single supplement we use is third party tested
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and each individual bottle is tested.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and there's very few.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:There's very, there's only a handful of companies that can say that.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, furthermore, the baseline of non gmo, gluten free, dairy free, corn free,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:additive free and preservative, all of those things, like, that's just like the
Dr. Brooke Weitz:very bare minimum for me before I'd even look at it, even consider a product.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know, patients bring in to me, Hey, what do you think about this all the time?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And if it, if those things aren't met, and if they aren't third
Dr. Brooke Weitz:part, you know, then forget it.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Not to mention the shipping is so, so, so important in terms of IR
Dr. Brooke Weitz:radiation and temperature regulation.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I mean, especially for things like probiotics, but those
Dr. Brooke Weitz:type of conditions matter.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:An imitation is a huge problem.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Another thing is that, a lot of these products can be very harmful
Dr. Brooke Weitz:if we're over harvesting them.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:A lot of these sources for the, these top companies, they're very, very careful
Dr. Brooke Weitz:on if they're, if there's an endangered, you know, defending the resource.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Exactly.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So they're very, very careful about not exploiting the, the resources overall
Dr. Brooke Weitz:sustainably sourcing ingredients.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And so that's a huge thing is, is the sustainability piece and like
Dr. Brooke Weitz:the actual ingredients that they're choosing and the, what they're using
Dr. Brooke Weitz:to, to actually grow the, the herbs or, or whatever, whatever the case may be.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So it's, it's, it's a quality issue.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Big time.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah, I,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I like to use, there's an example that I
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:learned when I was school in school, So this, this study's now pretty
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:old, but quite some time ago, bae had had done a study on probiotics
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:that are available over the counter.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And they tested 'em to find out what was in it.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And so some of them had what they said they had in it, some of them
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:did not, and some of them had pathogenic bacteria, so things in
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:it that would make you sick, right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And so when people tell me, Oh, I got this probiotic from, you know,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:whatever the story, I just picked up the one cuz it was the cheapest.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Well, that.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Maybe that's one of the good ones, or maybe that's the one
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:that's gonna make you sick.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And so there are some things, uh, that are probably less
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:important for quality control.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, but things that are really important for quality control, things like fish oil.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I wouldn't get just any old fish oil off the shelf.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I wouldn't even give it to my dog.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah, right.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:So it needs to be tested for heavy metals.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:The official that I like to use is tested for radioactive nucleotides.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:If we know anything about the state of our oceans, we know that's important as well.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, same thing with probiotics.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I only recommend probiotics that I know have been tested.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:They have an expiration date on the bottle.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:They reference the exact strains in it because in the strains are the ones
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:that are referenced in the studies that we can say, Yes, this exact strain of
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:octopus has been shown to be helpful for IBS or cibo, or, you know, whatever the,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:the thing is that we're using it for.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And so those things are very important to have it batch tested so that we know,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:okay, yeah, this lot has been tested.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:It says what it has in it.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:at these doses.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And unfortunately, you know, I had a patient the other day bring in a
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:bottle of fish oil and I, and she's like, Well, you think about this.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And I said, Well, I don't know, you know, heavy metals, et cetera,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Everything I just told you.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And she said, Well, I think it is tested for heavy metals.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And, and I looked at the bottle and it, it, it wasn't, what it said was
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:harvested from low mercury fish.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Oh, right.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And then it had a little star.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And in tiny, tiny print at the bottom of the bottle it referenced.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:That FDA guidelines for mercury exposure and that that's not, When we're talking
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:about naturopathic medicine, we're not talking about the least bad option.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:We're talking about what's the best option.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And if you're gonna spend your money on something, this is outta of your pocket.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:This isn't a prescription that you're gonna pay.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:If you have a good insurance plan, like $7, you're gonna be paying
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:money every month to be taking this.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Let's make sure that it's a high quality thing that's going,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:going to make a difference.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, and so that's, that's normally what I, I tell folks is if they
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:have something that they found that they notice a difference with.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And it's a brand that I'm not familiar with.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I say, Well, I can't speak here or there about that product because it
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:takes the, the brands that I recommend, I did spend time researching in.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:They meet certain criteria in terms of quality control.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And unless I'm really excited about something, I'm not gonna do that again.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:My patients could do that if they want to, but I do not, unless they
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:want to pay me for that visit where I spend the time looking into it
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Exactly for that individual product to spend whole, I'm not gonna weigh
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:in how I is doing that for people.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I'm not gonna weigh in on, on a product that I, I can't vouch
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:for their quality control, but the things that I do recommend,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I don't get a commission from it.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I recommend things based off of what I think will be
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:beneficial to people's health.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:That's, that's, I don't, I don't recommend it for any other reason.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And that loops right back around to you.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:First question of social media and Instagram , why is
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:this person recommending it?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Are they making a profit off of it?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:That's another reason why it's nice to see a medical professional about
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:these things because that's, this isn't my source of income as supplements.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Right.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Like I'm, I'm a physician and that's what I'm paid
Jeannie Oliver:to do.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Do you have, between the two of you top three favorite brands
Jeannie Oliver:that you Oh, are to, would say?
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Absolutely.
Jeannie Oliver:Oh, I mean, you're not affiliated with them.
Jeannie Oliver:I mean, they're carry clinic.
Jeannie Oliver:No, I have no's
Dr. Brooke Weitz:not, I would've to say Designs for
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Health is very high on my list.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I love that they use
Jeannie Oliver:glass
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:bottles.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I do too.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:The glass bottles are I, I like the whole environmental aspect
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:of, of that, that thought.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I like their product as well and it works.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But I also love that they use glass bottles.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Oh
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:man, we have, I have, I mean, we, we love
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Zymogen.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We love Zymogen.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, we do use a lot of Zymogen.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:They've got great products, great research, Um, everything we choose,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:we're constantly learning about, and they're, we're constantly
Dr. Brooke Weitz:updating our, our dispensaries.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:It, it is a, it's a constant work in progress.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So when, when we have something that we pull off the shelf, it
Dr. Brooke Weitz:is very intentionally there.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:, um, for a lot of reasons.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um, and it's, and it has nothing to do with finances.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Whatsoever.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I, I like integrative therapeutics.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:priority one is a good one.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Wise women's wise woman, Herbal Gaia is a good one.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I got the opportunity to actually visit the Wise Woman herbal facility.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:That was a lot of fun.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Ortho Molecular, I do love Ortho Molecular.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We use a lot of their products.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:They have excellent, Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Excellent products,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:but don't go on Amazon and buy these things.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Exactly, exactly.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:The problem with they're not, Amazon says if they're available on Amazon,
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:they say right on on their supplements.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:They say, We are not supplement company.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:We cannot guarantee quality control.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:It might be sitting in a trailer in 110 degrees in Arizona for three
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:months before it gets shipped to you.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And so that you do want to, not only the brand is important, but
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:also the, the chain of handling.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Right.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:You want to know that it, it has been properly cared for throughout
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:that time and we have workarounds
Dr. Brooke Weitz:for that.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We use specific.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Companies that deliver and that, or for ordering and, and delivering.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Are we allowed to say their names?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know, we use specific places that we know we can trace back
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and that we know they're stored properly and we know, Right.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Exactly.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And it takes five days, you know, to get the supplements
Jeannie Oliver:and that's okay.
Jeannie Oliver:It is okay, because you're getting what you're paying for, right.
Jeannie Oliver:You're investing in your health.
Jeannie Oliver:You might as well know that it's, it's legit and it's
Jeannie Oliver:worth your time and your money.
Jeannie Oliver:. Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:So, um, wrapping up here, any final tips for people as far as, you know, just using
Jeannie Oliver:their intuition, being their own advocate?
Jeannie Oliver:Any final pro tips for people as they navigate this, this world and this wealth
Jeannie Oliver:of overwhelming information out there?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:I, I like to tell my, So you should find a doctor.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:You realize that your, your doctor is your employee.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:You're hiring a physician, um, and you get to fire them as well
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:if they don't work well for you.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And, uh, a mentor of mine that I studied with for several years, Dr.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Jeff Harris, had the opportunity one time a patient came into his
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:office and her head was kind of down.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:She was a little bashed, and she was like, I saw another
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:doctor , like she had cheated on him.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:She hadn't been in for a while.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And he had the best response for that.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:He said, I am a tool in your toolbox.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And a hammer doesn't get upset if you need a wrench, Right?
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Like that, that
Jeannie Oliver:go, yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:Make
Jeannie Oliver:Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders: the best choices for your life.
Jeannie Oliver:And that even happens in our practice.
Jeannie Oliver:Um, I, you know, we, we share patients and sometimes patients
Jeannie Oliver:will be like, well, Maybe I wanna work with you or I wanna work with
Jeannie Oliver:this other doctor and is that okay?
Jeannie Oliver:That's fine.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:I, I have a full busy practice.
Jeannie Oliver:I, I am not personally attached to you listening to what I have to say.
Jeannie Oliver:I'm personally attached to having you feeling good about
Jeannie Oliver:your choices in your life.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:And, and if you wanna work with me, that's great.
Jeannie Oliver:And if you're showing up in my office because someone else told you that I'm
Jeannie Oliver:gonna be the cure to all your problems and you think that I'm full of it, , I
Jeannie Oliver:don't wanna work with you either.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:That's not gonna work well.
Jeannie Oliver:So you, you need to build your team and, you know, I have a team,
Jeannie Oliver:I have a primary care physician.
Jeannie Oliver:Two of 'em, they're a team and one's a nurse practitioner.
Jeannie Oliver:She's not a naturopath, she's an integrative practitioner.
Jeannie Oliver:Yeah.
Jeannie Oliver:And I have an acupuncturist and I have.
Jeannie Oliver:, a counselor, an massage therapist.
Jeannie Oliver:Mm-hmm.
Jeannie Oliver:, and I have my team and I don't see them all the time, but
Jeannie Oliver:I see them when I need them.
Jeannie Oliver:Right.
Jeannie Oliver:And, and that you should build your team and I trust all of them.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I would, I totally agree with, with that.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I would say, um, that in terms of, of yes, having a team and
Dr. Brooke Weitz:also just how you commit and your approach to your own healthcare.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So I, I.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:That you have to be senior primary care at least twice a year and
Dr. Brooke Weitz:just know, like, this is, this is at their minimum twice a year.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:, you need to know where your ship's heading.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We don't wanna get to the point where we have to turn it around.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We need to see that coming.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:That's how we're putting it a mile away, you know, miles away.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I, I always tell patients, you know, it, it, it took 10 years
Dr. Brooke Weitz:for these to hit this number.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I could have seen this 10 years ago.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:, this is not an overnight thing.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We don't wait until we have to turn it around.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:That's why we have data points all along the way.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And that's, and that's testing, that's actual lab testing.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So it's like we're combining the clinical presentation and what you're saying, how
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you're feeling, the signs and symptoms.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We're also looking at the actual data that we can take, whether.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Blood sugar or continuous glucose monitoring or your, your, you know, a
Dr. Brooke Weitz:full lipid profile with a lipoprotein profile, not just the basics.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:We can talk about that forever, another time, but it's, it's,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:you know, I'm seeing my person at least twice a year, bare minimum.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I also really encourage patients to keep a health journal because our recollection,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I mean, I know mine has, you know, gotten worse and worse through the years.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And we wanna be able to look at the, the, again, data points,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:put the pieces together.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Oh, it seems like every October this seems to happen.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Or, Oh, I have about three more viruses this year than I did the year before.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Or I'm having more cavities lately.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Or things that we're not necessarily putting together in as our whole health.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And so having it in a journal form and writing it down, I like to just put it in
Dr. Brooke Weitz:a calendar or I have to use an aura ring.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So I'll record a lot of things in the, in the aura ring.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But having that, that kind of health journal so that you're able to
Dr. Brooke Weitz:actually see in front of your face and you don't have to recall, you know?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Right.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:A lot of times when things are better, you don't recall them.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Of course, I'll say that to patients all the time.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I know we all say, Well, how's that?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Oh, that I know that's not a thing.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I'm like, No.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Well, you and you literally read what they said and they're like, Oh yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:You know?
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So I forgot that was bothering me.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But you know, we need to have all of, all of those.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Those things written so that when you do show up to your visit and maybe we
Dr. Brooke Weitz:could do a whole podcast on what is the best way to help someone help you, you
Dr. Brooke Weitz:know, what is the best thing that yeah, we could do as to be the best patients.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I certainly could work on that myself, but it's, you know, showing up
Dr. Brooke Weitz:and saying, Okay, here's my questions.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Here's what I'm concerned about and here's what I've noticed about my
Dr. Brooke Weitz:health and here's my my health points.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Cuz they might not ask, you know, you might be going in for something specific,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:but then also, you know, you have to have those, you know, twice a year
Dr. Brooke Weitz:check-ins where you're laying it all out.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So we're seeing like the constellation,
Jeannie Oliver:right?
Jeannie Oliver:You connect the dots between potential patterns or things that are going
Jeannie Oliver:on that the person may not be
Dr. Brooke Weitz:exactly.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Particularly aware of.
Jeannie Oliver:Exactly.
Jeannie Oliver:Conscious of.
Jeannie Oliver:Cool.
Jeannie Oliver:Well that's awesome and you guys are awesome and I'm so glad you joined me.
Jeannie Oliver:Thank you for this.
Jeannie Oliver:This is fantastic.
Jeannie Oliver:Now I want you to each just tell us how people can find you and work with
Jeannie Oliver:you and, um, Megan, why don't you.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Yeah, so I currently am in private practice, a
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:group practice at Cascade Integrative Medicine in Isao, Washington.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:And you can find me on Instagram and Facebook, Dr.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Megan Anderson Saunders.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Um, I'm, I'm out there,
Jeannie Oliver:so Great.
Jeannie Oliver:And I'll put all this in the show notes too, so you guys
Jeannie Oliver:don't have to memorize this.
Jeannie Oliver:Don't worry.
Jeannie Oliver:So I,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I work at the same, uh, clinic as Megan as well
Dr. Brooke Weitz:at Cascade Integrated Medicine.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I also work at Peak Performance and Prevention and Puyallup.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I've been there a few years, and I'm very, very poor at social
Dr. Brooke Weitz:media, but I do have a presence at, I believe it's Dr brooke whites.com.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Exactly.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Don't go with that.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And then my Instagram, I believe.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Dr.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Brooke Whites.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Um,
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders: she's one of those busy doctors
Dr. Brooke Weitz:that doesn't have time to be on
Jeannie Oliver:social media cause
Dr. Brooke Weitz:she's so busy.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I think my last post was over two years ago.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Pretty sure it was.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So that's, uh, on my, on that's a goal of mine only because
Dr. Brooke Weitz:I like the education piece.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:Yeah.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:And I think that's such a big part of our medicine is the education piece.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So the ary.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So that's something I do plan on working on a lot of the times
Dr. Brooke Weitz:just because I repeat the same thing over and over and over.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So I really wanna just share it cause I realize everyone
Dr. Brooke Weitz:needs to hear specific things.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:So that can be one of my goals.
Dr. Brooke Weitz:But yeah, dr brook whites.com.
Jeannie Oliver:Great.
Jeannie Oliver:I love it.
Jeannie Oliver:All right, you too.
Jeannie Oliver:Well, thank you so much for being here and everybody.
Jeannie Oliver:Like I say, I'll put this information in the show notes.
Jeannie Oliver:You can check these gals out and we just encourage you to be your own advocate.
Jeannie Oliver:Listen to your instincts, do your research.
Jeannie Oliver:It will pay off in the end, and we just wish you all the best of health
Jeannie Oliver:and we will see you next time.
Jeannie Oliver:Thanks, Jeanie.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Thanks.
Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:Thanks Jean.
