Functional Medicine for Overwhelmed Women and Tired Moms

Introducing Dr. Emma Andre

Hear Dr. Emma Andre talk about her History and unique approach to medicine.

Video

Audio

Transcript:

Kellie: [00:00:00] Should I get my ukulele?

Emma: [00:00:02] Yes. I want a musical introduction.

[Musical Introduction] [00:00:16]

Kellie: [00:00:18] Hello to everyone, and welcome to those who are new at Revive. My name is Kellie and I'm the marketing and social media go to around here. What I really wanted to do today is kickstart a series of doc talks here and introduce, in my unbiased opinion, some of the best doctors around. First, we have dr. Derek who is the founder and original doctor here at revive.

And we wanted to do a big introduction to our newest doc, dr. Emma, and she has been in practice before coming to revive for many, many years. So take it away, dr. Derek and dr. Emma.

Derek: Great, thanks Kellie for the intro. I had this idea to have a conversation with you, Emma, with Kellie here kind of moderating, to have a little back and forth over what you're all about.  I know we see a lot of things, very similarly from a medicine view, but also. Bring our different experiences and perspectives to the table. And I think that that comes across best in a little bit of a conversation. And while I know a lot of, I still don't actually know all the deep little things that you do and the nuances that kind of come with that.

And I think that's what makes us unique as doctors. And really anyone, it's not just about the nuts and bolts of how do you practice, but how do you actually make that happen with the person. And I think that's what is a unique component, of how you work with people.

So I wanted to have a little bit of a conversation about that. Before we jump into that, as Kellie said, Revive is my clinic. It has been my baby since 2013. And, I love working here. We've been in Carlsbad since then. And, and I really appreciate the kind of patient base we've been able to build here.

Brief, a little bit about myself, most of my patients. And if you can't tell already I am Canadian, I don't have a huge accent, but every once in a while it comes out when I say, sorry, or something else, but you'll, you'll hear it. Here at revive we've seen everything kind of across the board, but most of my emphasis is in metabolic health, weight loss, heart disease, heart disease prevention, as well as some of these chronic cases that just aren't getting well.  I think that's what shows up a lot at naturopathic doctors offices, and it certainly is something that we see here.

But I don't want to spend too much time talking about myself. what I want to get going with Emma is just give us an understanding of, one: how you got down to Carlsbad. There more recently, I think it's been a little bit of a whirlwind; and two, maybe a little bit about how you got into this kind of medicine, and let's evolve that into then saying throughout your career, what you've really come to love to see, to love to treat and what you've been good at. So, share with everybody your whirlwind of the last couple of months of getting down here to Carlsbad.

Emma: [00:03:49] Yeah. That's been an interesting adventure for sure. So as you guys mentioned, I practiced in Portland for about a decade as a ND in my own private practice. And recently we felt called to the sun, the beaches and family down here in San Diego County. And we are so happy to be here. It's been a little more challenging with the current state of things, but, we made it down--that includes myself and my husband and my two kids. They're nine and five girl and a boy and my mom and we absolutely love it here. And am I am building my practice at revive right now and really focusing on other moms.

How I got into naturopathic medicine, I. Actually, it was on the road to conventional medicine to be an MD, and I did all the schooling and prerequisites, and then I worked in a hospital to get experience. And I realized in working there, how, as an anesthesia technician, I worked total seven years there. And that was a great experience because I got to see how disease focused conventional medicine is. And I wanted to get into health focused medicine. And at the time my dad was an MD and I was going to follow in his footsteps.

Derek: [00:05:14] I don't think I knew that!

Emma: [00:05:15] Yeah, he was, and my mom was an acupuncturist who was before that, a physical therapist. So I found myself somewhere kind of in the middle of the two, I realized in working at a hospital, this is not what I'm going for.

The doctors themselves. I watched how they would take care of themselves. And I thought, man, this really has nothing to do with health. This is wonderful disease management, but that's not where I want to put my focus.

Derek: [00:05:42] Yeah!  And  I'll interrupt you for just a sec too, because I didn't quite realize that, but so much of that story is exactly what I got as well. My dad is in medicine, he's a radiologist and presents you a really unique perspective because you got to see the great parts of it. You got to see where it was awesome: life changing, life saving and I've a great deal of respect for what he does. And I have a ton of friends in medicine and I have a great deal of respect for what they do. What it was also able to illuminate is what they do really well, and then what they do very poorly. And then, like you, I had these original goals of going into medicine. I mean, I'm in it, but [goals of going into] conventional medicine and then Naturopathy or naturopathic medicine came into my reality as "this exists." And I didn't really know that at the time, and the side of the equation that it worked on, not the disease side, but the health side...it made so much sense to me, and the slightly broadened, not slightly, the MUCH more broadened toolbox that you were available to have was great. I remember when we were  (we went to the same medical school), I remember when we were at NCNM now NUNM, and I learned at that moment that I think it was in first year when we were starting to talk with them, that I was going to be doing GYN exams and, prostate exams, and biopsies and minor surgery. I didn't know. Naturopathic doctors did that at that time until I showed up in Portland already being like," I want to do this." And it was like: "Oh, I'm going to do that too?!" And, there's a little bit of excitement plus "Oh, okay. Sure!" So yeah, we have a unique and  a shared path in that respect. I actually didn't really know that.

Emma: [00:07:54] Yeah. It's funny, at first, my mom was like, "well, what about acupuncture?" This was like 14 years ago, so I've changed a lot since, but at that time I said, "no that's way too right-brained for me." That was my answer, and it just felt way too far away from the path I've been on with all the science I've been taking. And instead, she h:anded me a book that was written by a doctor who was going through different cases: like, miraculous cases and turnarounds, and this was more of a functional medicine doctor.

And I read that book and was like, "This is what I've been looking for." And then she put another book in my hand and said, "Well, there's this school right here in Portland." I had never even heard of that school at the time because back then, this was the beginning  of that wave of awareness. There wasn't even a conversation about ND's back then in the general public, and that switched a lot while we were in school. But reading that I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is it. This is the philosophy I've been looking for about true health; how to get sustainable health; ways to get your body to work for itself by listening to it; getting it to heal itself." And that's what I truly believed in, and I think the philosophy in conventional medicine was really more about the doctor fixing the patient--which made sense when I worked in the operating room, because that is what they were doing. They were lifesaving, and fixing. But when we're talking about functional things, when we're talking about somebody who was just tired a doctor can't go in and just fix that for them. It's a bigger mystery. You have to put all the puzzle pieces together. And that's what I was interested in is helping people to solve that mystery and learn to really take care of themselves so they can feel exactly how they want to feel. That was lifesaving in the hospital but just not my thing.

Derek: [00:09:54] What was that book that your mom gave you?

Emma: [00:09:56] Oh, I can't even remember.

Derek: [00:09:58] I know for sure anybody listening to this  () if anybody's listening to this), they're gonna be like, "What was that book?"

Emma: [00:10:06] I'll have to dig it out! I mean, we just moved. we've always had an enormous library in our house. We've always had tons of books. My Parents would buy books and never get rid of them. So we would, I mean, I don't even know how many thousands of books we probably have. So I know we purged before we came. Maybe that one's still left. I don't know. I mean, we have two bookshelves full of just health and wellness and spirituality. Like all of that blended together. That is my family's...we  just love that stuff.

Kellie: [00:10:39] [Emma, what is it that] you treat most, I know that I've had the opportunity to talk with you. And a lot of the stuff that you were saying was resonating with me personally, and I'm just like shaking my head, like, "Yes! Yes! This is my doctor!" Or I'm thinking of people I know who had been looking for someone like you. So if you could just touch briefly on who it is that you generally treat and what your approach is.

Emma: [00:11:03] Yeah, absolutely. My practice in Portland, I was, I was there for a decade, so I started really broad and in the last few years I've really started to narrow in, on supporting moms or women just like me. I ended up getting, in my practice, lots of moms who were exhausted, who felt like as soon as they had kids, everything kind of flipped--their hormones flipped, their energy went down, their libido disappeared, their hair started falling out, they're gaining weight in new places. It's like their whole health picture flipped.

And that happened to me. I got so tired after I had kids. More tired than what is normal from the sleep deprivation and how much we give of ourselves, and of our body and of our energy. And I found myself in this hole. And I was so tired when my daughter was one and a half or two. I was so tired I couldn't even play with her. I would just lay on the floor while she played. And I was like, "What is wrong with me? What is going on?" And I, at the time being already a doctor when I had her, still hadn't figured out what it was that would turn that around. And I couldn't find any good resources, honestly.

So I found that that was the thing I needed to focus on. So I figured out my own health issues got that taken care of and decided that that was where I needed to focus and help other women. Cause clearly they weren't getting the help they needed either. If I couldn't even find the resources and I was educated about this, where was that for everyone else?  So I zeroed in on that.

I would say, mainly, I love being a support for overwhelmed moms who are finding themselves.  They're also in that pit. And the culture in this country teaches us from day one that the thing to do is to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, figure it out, just do it yourself.  And when it comes to health, That doesn't really work. We actually need others to help us put the puzzle pieces together and to solve this. And I want to be that ladder for somebody to get out of the hole.

Derek: [00:13:28] Yeah. That's a great way to put it. It takes, you know, it's like the village mentality. It's something that I reflect to a lot of my patients when I speak to them, whether they're, whether they're new ones or ones, I've had a long time, there may be a need to have members on your team that affect things differently. I think the cool thing about what you do, and I want you to speak to this a little bit as well. Emma is you have the capacity to be a really solid resource for a lot of people, and women in particular. partially because of some of the holistic counseling that you also do. And I think that that is a unique piece where inevitably, when we start to get to know people, we do a lot of counseling, not necessarily on purpose, just because we're asking questions.

And I think you've taken that even further to a degree that you've armed yourself with a toolbox to actually say, "okay, well, if we're going to dig into some stuff, I can get us out of this pit." Can you speak a little bit more to that too?

Emma: [00:14:39] Yeah, absolutely. So my journey and the tools that I've gathered that I think are the most helpful for women in this situation reflect completely the journey that I went through personally, meaning I've, I've been there. I know what it feels like to be overwhelmed and to feel alone in this. And I don't want other women to feel that that way. So I started with the physical layer. I started to address what were the nutrients that were missing. I was inflamed and achy and I was low in iron like so many women are, it was, there was all those physical things, dealing with gut health, getting my sleep in check and all of those things were so important.

The thing was that I had my daughter and I handled the physical piece and then I had my son and I went right back to where I was that first time. So even getting the physical piece dialed in, although it was helpful, I still found myself back in that same spot. So the physical wasn't really enough. And that's when I started looking into the mental-emotional piece.  And I started getting involved in getting coaching for myself on that level. And I started training in holistic counseling, which, probably requires a whole other phone call to explain what that is out there. It's something totally different, but it's, it's a really great way to get down to where it is that we operate in a way that may not be what's in our best interest for our health.

So that was the next layer: the mental-emotional piece. And after that, the next piece is spiritual layer. We are all physical beings. We are also mental, emotional beings and we're spiritual beings. And you can't really separate those out. And many women are quite used to being treated like, "okay, we're going to look at your body like it's this machinery that we just have to put together. And we just fix this for you, we just plop this pill in and we'll just fix it."

Derek: [00:16:39] "Cut this out."

Emma: [00:16:43] Yeah, "cut this out, remove that and boom, we fixed it for you. You don't have to do a thin." And this just doesn't reflect reality. We're all those pieces. And so as NDs, I feel like our strength is really to step back and to look at the whole picture. That's instead of specialists who are really good at zooming in on the one thing, and we need that, but our strength as an ND is to really step back and look at all of those pieces and I am fascinated with those pieces and how they fit into somebody's health picture.

So I ask those questions. I ask questions that people are not used to being asked by their doctor because they matter, because how we do life, if we operate from a place of feeling stressed out of feeling overwhelmed of feeling like there is no space for us--which, is how a lot of moms feel. They are at the bottom of the totem pole every single time--we can the scales by turning that around and saying, "okay, this is the thing that I need to do for me." Because in the back of every mom's head, she knows: "If I'm not at my best, I'm not giving my family, I'm not giving my workspace, I'm not giving everybody else my best." And that's often where a lot of them feel the worst, not just for themselves, but they're not giving their kids their best if they're cranky, tired and overwhelmed. And so the hardest part is to take that initial step to make space for your health.

Derek: [00:18:18] Yeah. It's being able to marry all of those things together. making sure there's not something big, bad going on, making sure your thyroid is right, your irons, right. Beause you're not going to get well, if that's not corrected, but using that as the first step and not the only step, and being able to have that kind of game plan.

Kellie: [00:18:45] So what can I, as the patient coming in to see you expect from our first visit? And then subsequently all of the visits afterwards.

Emma: [00:19:00] Generally the first visit is gathering a lot of information. We ask a lot of questions and the unique thing about working with us is you get the full hour to talk to us, which for a lot of people is a brand new experience. So in that hour, especially in the first one, Of course, it depends on what someone's coming in for everyone's favorite answer, but we do get to ask a lot of questions. I like to hear a lot about somebody's history. Part of that goes into the intake, but then I want to hear it from them when they come in, then we talk about what labs to order. And as we were just saying, we kind of start with the physical pieces because those are the foundation for addressing and allowing all those other layers to be healed as well.

So we'll start by figuring out which labs we're going to order, and then I usually like to give people a sense of, "Okay, here's our short term plan, and then here's our longterm plan. And this is what I'm guessing and it's going to look like, but a lot of it is gathering information and getting to know you as an individual." So much of what we do is so individualized and it's based on your history and your needs at that moment.

Derek: [00:20:13] Relationship building, right? I think that's something that is unique to our profession in a lot of respects where you actually have a relationship with your doc--a professional one, but still something that is above just a five minutes, 10 minutes, physical exam, lab work, annual lab work, and: "Alright, you're okay." Or an instrument inserted somewhere doing something. So, I think that's a good summary of a way in which I try to work with folks as well. From a, to be a little bit more specific on the investigations when you talk about labs. So are you talking about blood work? Are you talking hormones? What in particular is on the buffet in front of you if you need to go there.

Emma: [00:21:18] I mean, "Yes." The blood work, which sometimes it's the kind of blood work that people are used to doing with their primary care, except that we tend to like a broader picture. For example, well, if we're looking at the thyroid, we have other markers that we like to order to get a more complete and whole picture of how somebody's thyroid is actually doing. And then also there are, there's a whole spread of functional labs, things most MDs don't know about and won't order either because they don't really have the time to go through it or the training to decipher these things. That's where we spend our time in our training is to try to get a more functional understanding of, for example, your gut or your hormones, or probably some of the more in depth heart health panels that you would do in your practice. So there's a whole spread  of things.

Derek: [00:22:22] Great. So, Kellie, why don't you share a little bit about how, if someone's interested in seeing Dr. Emma or myself, what are the avenues to make that happen?

Kellie: [00:22:36] So we've kept it pretty simple: either go to our website: revivenatmed.com. And there's a little green button on there. That's "Requested appointment" You can request your 15 minute appointment with Emma or Derek. Or you can give us a call (760) 306-4842. @ReviveNatMed - Both Facebook and Instagram.

Derek: [00:23:01] Perfect. Thanks, Emma. This was great. We'll be doing it again. And Kellie, thank you for organizing that. Hopefully this is the beginning of many dives  we can take into different topics, because I think that the more we can share a perspective, that resonates, that makes people feel like "Yeah, that's me!" Because I think that's just like that book you read, you're like, "Yes! This is the thing I want." I think that we can provide that same kind of trigger for a lot of people out there.

Emma: [00:23:47] Having the right fit with somebody is so important. It's so important and that's, it's so cool that revive offers these free 15 minute consults so that we can have a conversation and see whether it feels like a good fit. I love that.

Derek: [00:24:02] Perfect. Alright, thank you both!

3 Tips to Avoid Overeating

Are you prone to overeating? I can be at times. It's not a fantastic habit or amazing for metabolism. First, if we eat too fast, we put in more calories than we need in a certain meal before feeling full. Secondly, it's also not great for the gut or the microbiome. It can cause indigestion, gas, and bloating, just like laborious digestion. So here are three tips to try to prevent overeating when you sit down to eat some food:

One, chew your food. Alright, I know that sounds crazy, but chew it. Chew it 35 times. Why 35? Because I said so. It will slow you down. Give yourself more of an opportunity to feel full.

Two, put your fork or spoon down between each bite. That will slow you down and give you a greater chance of getting those important sensations of feeling full and satisfied.

The third point is something that I did effectively today, and that is: eating some scalding hot soup and burning the shit out of your tongue and the roof of your mouth. That will inevitably slow down how fast you eat and ruin food for you for the next two to three days—so I'm looking forward to that.

The soup was excellent. By the way, I'll put my little recipe, a shout-out to Dr. Brian Myers below.

So, slow down.

This recipe has 7 different vegetables, lots of protein, some starch carbs, and nice, fatty richness from the coconut milk—big fan.

Brian soup:
Mild Italian Chicken Sausage (2 lbs) - I like lots of meat in my soup
Yellow Onion (1), chopped.
Carrots (2), chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
Stalks Celery (3), chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
Kale (1 bunch), chopped in medium size pieces
Green Beans (1/2 lb), trimmed and cut into 1" long pieces
Baby Potatoes (10), quartered or halved if small.
Garlic (4-5 cloves), chopped
Chicken Stock (6 cups)
Full Fat Coconut Milk (1 can)
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Red Pepper Flakes (Optional)

Brown the chicken in a pan or saute mode in an Instant Pot. Break it into pieces that will fit on a spoon but are not too small.

Once the chicken is browned, set it aside in a bowl. Add the onions to the pan and cook on medium until they caramelize (~8-10 minutes), don't burn them!

Once the onions are about done, add the carrots, and celery and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add garlic to cook for 1-2 minutes until soft.

Add the chicken sausage back to the instant pot, or move all the cooked ingredients to the instant pot. Add the broth.

Turn the instant pot to Soup and set the time for 10 minutes.

Once the 10 minutes is up, "quick release" the instant pot.

At this point, add the coconut milk and green beans and stir until incorporated. Put the lid back on while instant pot is on "Keep Warm," and let the green beans cook until a desired doneness (I like them with some crunch).

Season with salt and pepper to taste. If you use salted broth, it will be less salty; if you use unsalted broth, it will be more. Use your judgement. You can't take salt back, but you can always add more.

Add chili flakes if you want some heat.

Let it cool before eating, or you'll burn your mouth like I did.

Knock yourself out (just not by burning your tongue). 👅🔥

Supplements: You get what you pay for

Do you ever wonder why the “same supplement” online or from your local superstore costs so much less than at the pharmacy or doctor’s office? Especially when it comes to supplements, you will see why the adage is true: you get what you pay for!

Supplements are a billion dollar industry

In 2021, the United States dietary supplement market size was over $150 billion (1). This is a massive industry with little to no regulation, operating essentially on an honor system. This leaves the general population vulnerable to misrepresentation and potentially harmful ingredients. For example, Labdoor, a research company that tests dietary supplements, has found that some manufacturers skew their ingredient labels so that the amounts on the label may not be the same as what’s actually in each capsule.

Freshness ought not be overlooked

Most things purchased online from mass retailers come from large warehouses and not from the manufacturer itself. That means your product may be at or near its expiration date upon your receiving it. It could also have been exposed to damaging light or temperatures during storage or transit – since many require a modicum of climate control for potency – that some of these facilities are not equipped to handle. Probiotics are an easy example of one such supplement where freshness is important because the number of Colony Forming Units (CFUs), the unit of measure for probiotics, declines over time and with exposure to extreme temperatures.

Quality is worth it

The rise of e-commerce stores have essentially helped create millions of online counterfeit stores. There has been plenty written on the topic. Particularly regarding Amazon. These counterfeit stores pop up into existence faster than they can be found and shut down and flood the market with inferior products. All supplements are not created equal. Understanding labels for ingredients is important. Some are loaded with fillers and others use the same herb or vitamin or mineral, but in a form that is non-bioavailable (i.e. useless, but cheaper) to us as humans. You are literally throwing your money down the drain. 

Beyond the common online retailers, big retailers such as GNC, Walmart, Walgreens, and Target have all been called out in the past for selling “snake oil” (2). A 2015 study spearheaded by New York Attorney General Schneiderman revealed that supplements sold at these big name retailers did not actually contain the ingredients advertised, but were instead filled with powdered vegetables. Even some labeled “gluten free” products contained wheat. High quality professional lines are important because they ensure your product contains exactly what’s on the label and nothing more. (3).

Safety

I tell all of my patients that the ultimate goal is to not need supplements and medications. Ideally, we ought to get everything we need from our food, sleep, exercise, community, and stress management, but sometimes we need some help. With that in mind I am specific with what I recommend and prescribe – often at a therapeutic strength for a specific period of time as opposed to the recommended daily amount or the manufacturer’s recommendation. I am not one to tell people to just take something forever. As if that isn’t reason enough, many supplements and medications interact with each other and may be contraindicated for individuals with specific medical conditions. It is ill-advised to ask a vitamin aisle clerk for health advice. 

How to Choose Good Quality Supplements

I don’t eat at fast food joints and I don’t get my supplements from superstores – which I see as a similar comparison. I don’t seek quantity, but rather quality with what I choose to put into my body and I recommend the same for my patients. Supplements can be a great addition to a treatment plan and they can help get your body back to optimal health, but only if used safely. Your health is the wisest investment you can make. In this instance, quality is value.

For supplement comparisons and rankings check out websites like labdoor.com. Our clinic often uses Fullscipt - a trusted source for professional-grade products where you can browse the catalog. Finally, you’re always welcome to request an appointment with one of our doctors for further advice.

Introducing Dr. Lila Lewenstein - Women's Health Naturopathic Doctor, and Dog Lover

Introductions

Dr. Sarah Holloway

We Tried the ProLon Fasting Mimicking Diet: A Review

Dr. Derek Lawrence, ND ProLon Review

Dr. Derek Lawrence: ProLon Fasting Mimicking Diet

Auto-generated Transcript Via Descript:

Hey everyone, Dr. Derek here, back in my office after Thanksgiving long weekend. And I'm sure, you know, just like you guys, I. Definitely over eight, really enjoyed myself. And it's time to time to do a little bit of a reboot. And relatively recently came across an exciting product that I'm actually doing this to share with you.

READ THE ENTIRE TRANSCRIPT...

[00:00:30]As you know, I'm not much of a social media user and you know, for me to get behind something, I have to be pretty excited about it. And I am It is a, it's called it ProLon five day fasting, mimicking diet, first off and foremost, you know, I don't kind of get behind any product. I really I like to know the data.
[00:00:48] I like to know the research and I'm really impressed with what one, the fasting mimicking diets actually been able to do for folks. And of course the people doing the research I've been I've been satisfied with as well. So let's take a look at what we're looking at here. So this is the ProLon five day meal program here.
[00:01:08] And it's pretty easy because pretty much that's in those boxes are going to be the food that I'm going to eat for the next five days. There is a small calorie restriction to it as well. So day one has about 1100 calories and then day two, three, four, and five, or closer to eight. There isn't fasting aspect of it, but there is also food.
[00:01:28] So the major question I get is. Well, how can be fasting if there's food there kind of just behind that is, is it's about a threshold and the design of the food. So the food is actually designed to down-regulate some of our kind of aging pathways and regulate some of our regenerative and rejuvenating pathways in our system.
[00:01:51] And we can go and I will go into more detail on that during the week. Three major pathways in particular insulin, like growth factor M Tor and protein kinase, a. Those are familiar to you. Great. You would do in your research. If not, I will talk a little bit more about it. Probably a day, two or three. But furthermore, this threshold effect is basically they give you enough nutrients so that when you feel fed, but your cells are kind of still in a fasting state.
[00:02:21]So let's take a look at what day one's got for us. So day one has us with. A minestrone soup, Lynn
[00:02:35] tomato soup blends. So it looks like I'll be eating a fair amount of soup.
[00:02:41]
[Music]:
[00:02:41] It's got
[00:02:43] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:02:43] kale crackers
[00:02:45]
[Music]:
[00:02:45] and they have these great,
[00:02:47] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:02:47] they call L bars. These ones that are nut-based. They're very
[00:02:50]
[Music]:
[00:02:50] good.
[00:02:53] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:02:53] A. Chocolate kind of rice, crispy flavored one, a pack of olives
[00:03:01]
[Music]:
[00:03:01] and a
[00:03:03] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:03:03] couple of pro lawns specific dietary nutrients, some Omega threes from LG.
[00:03:10] And then I vegetable powder with my vitamins and nutrients in it. And then there's two teas too. There's a spearmint tea and a lemon spearmint tea one, which I've already. So there's our spearmint
[00:03:25]
[Music]:
[00:03:25] tea.
[00:03:28] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:03:28] That's it? This is day one. This is what we're going to eat. On day one. I'm probably gonna start off with having to not bar. This morning, and I will keep you in the loop on how day one goes and how I feel at the end of it. So if this is interesting to you already got a couple of patients on board who are going to try this out you know, fasting is becoming a.
[00:03:51] Kind of more popular term, and this is a great way to kind of try it out for yourself. Jump in. That's relatively low stress. You still get to have food and there's not a lot of prep. And that's one of the things that is really nice about it is that it's all there.
[00:04:10] I can see you after day one of my ProLon five day fasting, mimicking diet. So I can, I can say they, one was relatively easy. I mean, there's an ample amount of food. I could say. Maybe I felt a little bit hungry in the evening, but I still had some food leftover that I hadn't eaten yet. So in the evening I did get a slight dull headache that lasted until I went to sleep woke up feeling fine this morning and drank some water.
[00:04:41] And made it into the office to show you guys what is in store for day two and day two is the first day that comes with a energy drink. So they call it their L drink, orange flavor. We'll see how this one goes. I'm never a huge fan of energy drinks, but we'll try it out. And what do we got? Why's today, we got mushroom soup.
[00:05:12] I'm actually excited for that one. I'm a big fan of mushroom soup. So minestrone with keenwah this time. I can definitely say so yesterday we had tomato. And we had minestrone. I liked the tomato a lot, actually. It was good. Pretty quick to make the minestrone takes a little bit longer, 15 minutes or so.
[00:05:30] And it was okay, but both of them tasted good. I definitely like the tomato better out of everything. I mean really the thing, maybe that. W that I didn't love the most was the little chocolate rice crispy bar, but I'm not a huge chocolate person. So that might, that might be exists. That might be why.
[00:05:49]So let's get back to the box today. We got two packs of all of us. Those were really tasty yesterday.
[00:05:57]
[Music]:
[00:05:57] And we have
[00:06:01] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:06:01] spearmint tea, spearmint, lemon tea. I really like both of those. We have one L bar today or one nut bar I should say, then one of the. Chocolate crispy bar. We have a couple more teeth.
[00:06:17] We've got a high viscous tea, extra two high viscous cheese, two of those, and one of their veggie powder, mineral supplements, as you can see, there is day two and haven't had any of it yet, but we're going to have some probably some tea and they'll not bar to begin the day. One of the markers that I'm running a lot on my patients.
[00:06:42] And one of the ones I'm interested in, in, in as far as it gauging kind of the health and particularly the inflammatory load on their system and that's CRP, okay. Stands for C reactive protein. And I'll show you a little graphic from one of the Pearl on handouts. So it actually shows ProLon reducing CRP by over 1.5 points.
[00:07:09] Of course, this was in people who it was already elevated above one. Okay. So this is a population that is not at low risk. So it lesson one. A CRP lesson. One is a relatively low risk population as it pertains to things like cardiovascular disease. One to three is about average and then above three is high risk.
[00:07:31] So in the groups that were average or high prolonged was able to lower their CRP by over 1.5 points, which is a big deal. Considering the scale that we're working with. So what's CRP it's kind of a systemic inflammatory marker. So it's a, it's a protein that's produced by the liver that responds to dead and dying cells.
[00:07:56] Okay. So if there are organisms processes or otherwise aging, you know, that is breaking down ourselves. Faster than we would really like them to be broken down or frat faster than normal. Our CRP is going to elevate in response to that. So we'll see this Elevate and things like acute infections, we call it acute phase reactant it'll rise in acute infections, but it'll also stay elevated and things like chronic inflammation in the body.
[00:08:24]I look at it often through the lens of cardiovascular disease, as well as irritable bowel disease. Okay. Both of those have high inflammatory load and we can even assess those things through the lens of like mental health, anxiety, depression there's evidence that there's a large inflammatory load.
[00:08:41] In our system when it comes to, you know, challenges with mental health. So it's a valuable marker from my perspective, because not only it tells us a couple of things, it tells us we need to one stop breaking down ourselves. So fast, right stop. The oxidative stress is on our system, but also help repair faster.
[00:08:59] Right. The supply is not meeting the demand. So it's a valuable marker. I run it often and Prolensa is a, is a great tool seemingly to, to lower it. And that's something that's exciting for me. Like I said, I base a lot of my kind of choices on literature and what's going to be right for my patients.
[00:09:20] And this seems like a valuable tool in that capacity.
[00:09:26] Started day three of our ProLon fasting, mimicking diet. This is hump day. It's the middle, but day three is the beginning of what we call the autophagy stage of this diet. And that is kind of the, your old cells getting cleaned up and and rejuvenated. So I want to show you a graphic here. So right there, we're in day.
[00:09:47] Three here. And three is where the autophagy stage starts. This is cleaning up our old dead cells. This is where our skin is going to start to glow. And all of that kind of dead inflamed dysfunctional tissue is going to start to turn over really at a cellular level. Autophagy is basically auto cell death.
[00:10:07] So your D your cells triggering themselves to to die if they are kind of broken or not working as well as they need to. So that's. Stay two, three, four, and five. Starting tomorrow, we're going to start to see the big increase in STEM cell rejuvenation that I'm looking forward to get the curves lines away from my eyes a little bit tighter.
[00:10:30] So anyways, let's look at day three. This has been really easy really stress-free to do so I'm looking forward to this day as well to minestrone. And tomato. I'm excited about the tomato. It's been my favorite soup so far, really easy to prepare it too quick. We have kale crackers. One of the nut L bars, which I always say for the end of the day, it's kind of like my dessert for the day.
[00:11:01] We have one pack of the veggie powder, vitamin nutrients, and then we have forties. So we got two high biscuits and then the lemon tea and the spearmint tea. So you can see here, no, all of us today, that was a big treat yesterday. There were two packs of olives and now. We have none. This looks like kind of on paper, the most challenging day out of all of them from people that I know that have been doing this, they say day three is kind of the most challenging that's where like the hunger peaks.
[00:11:34]So we'll see how it goes. I will fill you in later today, if there's any exciting news to report headaches or fatigue or otherwise. If everything goes smoothly we'll connect with you tomorrow morning and let you know how Dayforce
[00:11:53]I'm going to go through day four with you in just a moment, but to I wanted to give you a recap of, of my day three, generally speaking started off strong, but then, like I said, in that short little video yesterday, I did get a moment of hypoglycemia. Where I, I had to eat something quickly. I just was feeling like a little shaky, low energy, even a little anxious, and that maybe stayed for about an hour course at eight.
[00:12:23]And that seemed to kind of calm everything down, but it lingered around for a little bit. The rest of the afternoon was great though. Was definitely hungry. By the time I got home, it was ready for a couple of soups. Had those and the night was good. So back to the green L drink today, I mixed up with some high biscuits tea.
[00:12:48]
[Music]:
[00:12:48] We got two soups,
[00:12:52] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:12:52] veggie soup blend and minestrone. Keenwah. And you can see I'm in a different office today. I'm in my Bakersfield office. So if anybody's following along in Bakersfield, this is where we're at that bar
[00:13:10]
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[00:13:10] chocolate bar
[00:13:14] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:13:14] and the normal makeup of the teas, a couple of high biscuits, lemon spearmint, and today lucky two packs of all of us. Again. And then the one day for started I'm feeling good. And we've got a whole day of patients here at the clinic in Bakersfield, so I'll make sure to stack my food a little bit more spread out today as opposed to yesterday where I think I waited too long to eat.
[00:13:41] So anyways, that's how it's going. And we'll. Fill you guys in, if anything exciting happens today, if not, I'll check in with you tomorrow morning and let you know what day five has in store for us. And then we get to talk about, gosh, the transition day and what's you know, the results that we get from it.
[00:14:04] this is day five, the last day of our ProLon five day fasting, mimicking diet. And yesterday was great. Day four was pretty easy. Didn't have any coffee on day four. I think day three taught me that I don't need that. It was a little too sensitive to it. So I didn't have any caffeine and I felt great pretty much all day and woke up feeling good today.
[00:14:28] Definitely. I'm excited to eat something tomorrow but I can definitely hang with one more day of this. So let's see what we got. Tomato soup, minestrone soup sound like a broken record. Kale crackers today, a N R one, which is the veggie, how to Revit him a nutrient supplement and Elbar Keyes another omega-3 LG oil.
[00:14:58] And then of course we've got Berry flavored Eldrich today. So that's what day five is looking like. I will hit you guys up again tomorrow morning for a day six a, which is just going to be transitioned diet. I'll let you know what I transitioned to and how I feel I'm doing all that. But overall four days deep I'm certainly impressed with how easy this has been.
[00:15:20]I've done other cleanses. I've done other fast juice, fast smoothie, fast broth, fast. This has been easy. All the foods there. And tastes good and you know, you're hungry. So, you know, pretty much anything will taste good too, but I've been impressed with it. And I've been impressed with how I feel during it.
[00:15:39] And so I certainly think it's, it's pretty doable for most people. And I'll fill you in later today, if anything exciting happens. During day five, if not, you'll hear from me tomorrow during my transition day and I'll let you know what, and when I choose
[00:15:55]
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[00:15:55] to eat
[00:16:02] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:16:02] reporting post five day ProLon fast. This is so I guess this day six it's about quarter to 11 continuing on my kind of normal routine of intermittent fasting. So I generally don't eat till around 1130, 12. So I haven't eaten anything yet today, but I'm not even particularly hungry this morning.
[00:16:25] So overall my experience on this prolonged five day kind of fasting, mimicking diet has been pretty positive. I feel really kind of mentally clear, sharp dialed in my. Hunger. It's kind of surprisingly, like I'm not dying to eat. I'm not craving like, Oh my gosh, I got to go, you know, eat some chicken or I gotta go, you know, have a salad.
[00:16:51] Or when I would jump into a pizza, I don't really feel like that. I I'd like to eat. I'd like to eat something, you know, relatively soon and I'm going to, but yeah, it's been, it's been a pretty interesting, they kind of lack of Almost need or perceived need to eat. Weighed myself this morning on the whole, I I've down about seven and a half pounds.
[00:17:14]I've obviously I don't expect all that to stay after, you know, a couple of days, but I imagine, well, keep a few of those pounds off pretty sustainably. And I'm fairly certain my kind of Not appetite per se, but how much food I feel I will need to eat is going to change. Cause like I'm hungry, but like I don't really want to eat very much.
[00:17:36] And I'd like to kind of keep this good feeling going. So it's been a, it's been a pretty positive experience and certainly something I'm going to do again. Thanks for following along with me through this journey. If you're interested in, in, in prolong or doing a prolonged five day fast. You can always, you know, leave a comment.
[00:17:56]At revive you can leave a comment at doc Derek. If you're out in Bakersfield that can give our clinic a call here, sunrise, natural medicine, and we're on Instagram as well. So yeah, we'd love to hear from you guys and, and we'll make sure to video journal the next prolonged five day one as well.
[00:18:14] And I'm sure you'll see some more for me on Instagram and. Thank you so much for following along, have a good day. And I'm probably gonna break my fast with a little bit of soup from a, a restaurant here called lessons and I'm looking forward to it. So have a great day guys. Take care.

Katie (Office Manager) ProLon Review

Katie: ProLon Fasting Mimicking Diet Review

Katie: Hey guys, I am doing a five day plant-based it's called a fasting, mimicking diet. Everything you will consume comes in these little boxes. The meals consists of things like kale, crackers. Um, Supplements teas, soups and bars. Since you're not digesting a whole bunch, your body has more energy to put in kind of repairing your body while also balancing your blood sugar, balancing your insulin, balancing your satiating hormones.

READ THE ENTIRE TRANSCRIPT...

[00:00:45] It has shown to decrease body weight, decrease abdominal fat, decreased waist circumference, increased lean body mass. So that all has to do with how your body is metabolizing. Food 60% of weight loss has been shown to be maintained for three months after the diet, which is pretty significant because in most diets who aren't able to maintain that weight and even gain more weight back, it decreases LDL cholesterol, C-reactive protein, which isn't inflammation.
[00:01:17] Marker. It increases some cells by far during the diet. Also shows a significant increase in post diets STEM cells. It has also been shown to maintain after the diet fasting, blood glucose, STEM cells, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides insulin-like growth factor, ANSI, reactive protein. Anytime you do a diet that eliminates processed food and sugary food, you're going to get, you know, a reset of.
[00:01:50] Feeling like you need to have those, um, or the addictive qualities that those come with. I really want to have a clear mind and not be like looking to food to make me happy. I'm really excited. I hope you guys enjoy hearing about my experience.
[00:02:19] so day one of ProLon it's like three 30. I just ate three pancakes.
[00:02:33] I just needed to get breaking the rules out of the way, because I really don't do well with strict rules. I just instantly don't want to comply. I'm a really enjoying the food surprisingly and I also, haven't been like feeling very hungry. I am loving just knowing that my digestion is being reset, that my blood sugar levels are going to be totally balanced.
[00:03:03] Having a history of insulin resistance makes me just feel like this is going to be really good for me. And that's my motivation to continue.
[00:03:21] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:03:21] The reason why, like, I like it and why I was drawn towards it is because like, you see, we get all sorts of people in here. Generally speaking with variety of different health issues and diet is like, nobody leaves without us talking about it. It's important. It's the foundation, but it takes some time, right?
[00:03:42] It takes time to get into it. It takes time to. See the results of making those shifts. Generally speaking, when someone's coming to see you, um, there, there's an opportunity there to kind of capitalize on their momentum of saying, I want to, I want to do something. I need something to be fixed. Like now, today that's generally what drives them into your office because something is not right where I see ProLon fitting into that is as an opportunity to have a really short term.
[00:04:12] Pretty easy. It's low stress, right? This is like minimal work and prolonged can be that first step to say like, cool, do this. It's easy. It's certainly going to be different. It'll be a challenge for people. I mean, it's going to be a challenge for us, but, um, um, but the results will be there and it will be there quickly.
[00:04:32] You start to drop their inflammation quickly. You start to, you know, regulate their blood glucose. Faster, you know, um, and people notice that. So I've seen it as like a good opportunity for people to kind of get it kickstart really capitalize on the momentum and the choice that they've made to show up.
[00:04:49] Right. And we get to use it as like a therapeutic Jetpack to say, like, right, boom, let's go
[00:04:57] Katie:
[00:04:57] freed up a lot of time that I would spend figuring out what I'm eating and cooking, because that's such a overwhelming thing when they come in here and you're like, this is the way that you need to eat. And then they leave and they're like, how do I do it?
[00:05:10] How do I do at the very least this would free up some time so that they could yeah. Read
[00:05:16] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:05:16] through some resources, read through like the 30 day recharge diet that we have on the, on the
[00:05:20] Katie:
[00:05:20] website. After doing this 30 day recharged, I is going to look like frickin
[00:05:26] Dr. Derek Lawrence:
[00:05:26] right in the literature. They did one every month for three months.
[00:05:30] And that's where they saw nice, sustainable, sustainable weight loss. Um, sustainable inch loss of fat mass reduction, uh, skeletal muscle increased now like lean body mass, um, reductions in blood pressure, cholesterol, et cetera. It's an opportunity to kind of just clean up the scape a little bit, take a little digestive rest.
[00:05:49] And then at the end of those five days, you know, you're going to have an opportunity to play a little bit with it. Implementation, dairy, gluten. Yeah. Putting so much stuff into our mouth all the time. And your digest. Like literally you are saving energy. From having to digest food all the time, you get an opportunity to actually repair kind of this stuff is designed to put anybody's health at risk only to improve.
[00:06:16] What's your favorite tea? The, um, the lemon spearmint so far, I actually really liked the crackers. They weren't bad at all. I mean, I've had way worse kale crackers when you eat it. Which order you eat. It doesn't matter. You just have to stick with the box because of the caloric calorie and the macro nutrient balance between the food.
[00:06:36] Are they, one of the things that's slightly different about ProLon is that it's not saying it's bad. It's not saying meat's good. It's not saying these veggies are bad and these edges are good. It's not saying rice is terrible. It's not saying soy is evil for everybody. It's saying eat less food and eat it in these ratios.
[00:06:54] And this is what it does too. Aspects of your physiology. So it's not hard, but it's not diet. It's almost like a, it's a food supplement formula, right? To accomplish a few specific goals. They look at, you know, cholesterol, blood pressure weight, but a couple of the most unique parts are those pathways, the mTOR, um, insulin-like growth factor and protein kindly say, cause these are like cellular machinery.
[00:07:22] Like this is cellular processes that are becoming. Better regulated. So in our regular folks where they're turned up on their mTOR pathways, which are contributing to various different degrees of cellular dysfunction, there's just a, is there a reason why we have it? Yeah, there is like, we need some stimulation of all of these pathways.
[00:07:44] It's about balance and most people are so out of balance that that's a really important pathway to emphasize. All right. So that's, that's a part of it, right? There's people that, like I said, would think this is the witchcraft. It's not, it's all science and, uh, it's all pretty pertinent science. Um, well, there it is.
[00:08:09] Cool. Thanks.
[00:08:44] Katie:
[00:08:44] surfing in the morning and that just made me pretty hungry. And then yesterday, Thursday, which was day four, I didn't work out or go surfing or do anything really very active. So it was easier to get by, with not as much food today's Friday. Today's the last day I did work out this morning and I did have a little something before I worked out.
[00:09:11] I'm just kind of over it because I really missed working out. I think the hardest part for me was that for years and years, I restricted what I ate. And I always constantly was telling myself that I couldn't have whatever it was that I wanted. And once I overcame that, like I never want to go back to that because it's sucked.
[00:09:38] I've really found a way of eating that works with my body and that makes me feel good and that I'm comfortable with. And then I mentally feel good about, and I just really love. And so it just felt kind of wrong to like go back to that super to a super restricted. Diet and way of eating. So I do think that it will be a great tool for us to use at the clinic.
[00:10:07] I think it's a really great program for people who want to increase their STEM cells, balance their blood sugar, cholesterol, insulin, all of that kind of stuff. I think it's a great jumpstart to healthy lifestyle to figuring out a way of eating that works for you. So I'm definitely a fan of it and it'll be awesome to just see our patients use it and see how they like it and what their experiences.
[00:10:37] Thank you guys so much for watching my blog and I'll see you next time. Bye. .

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