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:

Peak Performance & Prevention

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

Hey there and welcome.

Today I have two amazing doctors joining me, Dr.

Brooke Whites and Dr.

Megan Anderson Saunders.

We're gonna talk about everything from how to navigate information overload on social

media, to how to choose supplements, and be your own medical advocate.

Dr.

Brooke Whites is a 2009 graduate of Baier University and a board

certified naturopathic doctor licensed in the state of Washington.

She was also a professor at BAE from 2006 to 2012 where she taught physical

medicine assessment and protocols for pain management and mobility optimization.

Dr.

Whites was a division one volleyball athlete and continues to compete in coach,

and she's been designing and implementing nutrition and sports optimization

programs for local volleyball club teams in the Seattle area since 2000.

When she's not treating patients, you'll find her in the gym.

Sometimes with me practicing yoga, playing or coaching volleyball or soccer, mom.

Dr.

Megan Anderson Saunders Nd received her doctorate in naturopathic

medicine, also from BA University and has been practicing since 2013.

Currently, she's a physician at Cascade Integrative Medicine In is Aqua Washington

where she improves her patient's 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 nonsurgical pain

management and injection therapies, including trigger point injections,

prolotherapy, P R P, and neurotherapy.

These amazing women have so much juicy information to share, and

I hope you find this episode as interesting and fun as I did.

So thanks for joining us.

Let's jump in.

Well, hello everyone and welcome back to the Nutrition edit.

I'm so glad you joined us tonight, and this is gonna be a fun one.

I have two of my favorite women here with me tonight, and it's a Friday evening.

We've all had a long week.

We enjoyed a glass of wine together and some organic snacks.

So we invite you to join us and um, I am super excited to introduce you to

these two because they are brilliant, amazing gifted doctors who really

pour their heart into their work.

And we are gonna talk tonight about kind of tapping into your intuition

and learning how to differentiate between what is bullshit out there,

what is worth checking out, and how to sort of navigate information overload.

So let's start with you, Dr.

Megan.

Give us a little bit of your background, how you got into this work

and what your practice is all about.

Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders: Thank you, Jeanie.

I'm really happy to be here.

I love talking about this.

This is my life.

Um, I am a naturopathic physician and in Washington state that means that

I'm licensed as a primary care doctor.

Some people see me as their primary care and I do their wellness

exams and lab work and manage medications and things like that.

Um, and some people see me as a specialist.

The way that you might see a cardiologist if you had a heart condition.

I'm their naturopathic specialist.

Um, and the difference between me and maybe what you know about

other sorts of doctors is the way that we go about things.

And that's how I was trained at bae, which is the university that I went

to, to get my, my naturopathic degree.

So you might go to a regular primary care doctor and say, Hey, doc, I've got asthma,

eczema, and constipation, and leave with a laxative and inhaler and a topal steroid.

In my office, you would still leave with an inhaler because asthma's

a life threatening condition.

Uh, instead of topical steroid, you would leave with an herbal

sap instead of a laxative.

We would use magnesium because it has a laxative effect on the body and

helps with muscle relaxation, which is part of the pathology of asthma.

In the meantime, when there's inflammation in those three systems, it's what

we refer to as an allergic tria.

Mm-hmm.

, More often than not, there's an inhaled or ingested irritant that is causing

those symptoms, and if we remove it, then those symptoms go away.

And that's the beauty of what we do.

I was drawn to this medicine because early on, um, in my twenties, I,

um, became sick with Lyme disease.

I had Lyme, and I say that in past tense, which some people in the

Lyme world might find as a surprise.

Some people think that you never get over.

and I had gotten my business degree.

I was working nonprofit and I started to get sick and I'd never

heard of a naturopath before I knew about herbal medicine.

My great-grandmother was a traditional herbalist up in Alaska.

Um, but I, I didn't know what a naturopath was and I sought out naturopathic

care and it was very helpful for me.

Uh, I then worked at a nonprofit for a while, an acupuncture school, and

realized that I wanted to be on the other side of the table, and that's

when I decided to become a naturopath.

Awesome.

That's fascinating to not know that you had struggle with lime, so

that's really encouraging, inspiring.

And Dr.

Brooke Whites welcome.

Tell us a little bit about

yourself.

Hi, thanks for having me.

I'm a huge fan of yours and, uh, I, I wanna thank you for just having this space

for people to talk and share and for all the work that you do and that you've been

doing for all your clients and people that you're opening their world too.

Food is medicine and I really believe in that.

Um, and my path to becoming a naturopathic doctor was really more natural in a

sense that I didn't ever have a, a.

Illness or something that, that led me to the medicine because I was

failed by the system or it was a last resort like many of my patients.

But this was something that was kind of in front of me all along

and it was a way of life for me.

My dad is an naturopathic doctor, so I'm a second generation naturopath.

Um, and I never thought of it as a career until I graduated with

a business degree and photography minor . So I had a very, none of that

very long path to going to bae really.

I had, I went to school, um, after my four year degree for two more

full time years of school to get to the zero point of at bae, and

that was another five year degree.

And I loved every, every minute of it, basically living the.

This utopia of naturopathic medicine at the hub in Washington and Seattle

and walk in the walk every day.

And I feel like there's a big discrepancy in medicine and with healthcare that

not only is it not healthcare, it's sick care, it's not working on prevention.

It's not working on optimization, It's working after the fact and

it's completely upside down.

So, so many of the practitioners are not a example of health themselves,

and it's, it's really hard to, to take advice from, from a, a glass half empty

or, or a place where you're, you're not able to thrive and that doesn't view.

Health as basically the way we do, the way Dr.

Saunders, Dr.

Anderson Saunders and I do.

Um, and a lot of the other naturopathic doctors.

It's a completely different, uh, paradigm.

And, you know, a lot of people ask me, what's the difference between,

you know, you know, this us them and this conventional and the functional

or commissional and naturopathic.

And really, I feel like it's the, how we approach the body mm-hmm.

and all of our tools, we have so many more tools other than drugs.

Right.

And I always say, you know, if, if everything was taken away from me, if,

you know, the FDA has pulled quite a few things that I really, that I used

lately, uh, recently actually, like, uh, Thymus and Alpha, for example.

But there's a lot of, you know, I could help someone with just my hands.

Mm-hmm.

, like literally just my hands.

Because in, in our, in our medicine, we learn visceral man, we learn

chiropractic or naturopathic manipulation.

We learn.

All different types of hands on body work, cran sac, um, active release

technique, all different types of things that you can help someone

with, literally only your hands.

And then you add on the herbs that we learned, the Western and the Eastern, and

you add the diet and the supplementation, and you can have an entire foundation

of health before you even recommend a single, you know, before you even

have to get to a, a pharmaceutical.

Yeah.

And we do have pharmaceutical, you know, a scope and we have pharmaceutical

rights, but it's, I love that we have so many tools in our toolbox

that we can take a lot of people off of these drugs actually right.

Safely.

The food and the herbs usually don't have the same level of side

effects and you're addressing more of the root causes or what's at the

foundation of someone's symptoms versus just addressing the symptoms.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love it.

And I have to say, I have, Preferred patients or my clients to you who

have become your patients and have seen really profound results when

they have struggled for a long time to get results from, you know, a, a

typical MD within the insurance system.

And look, just to be clear too, like we're not bashing regular doctors or MDs

because space for that are wonderful and awful people in every facet of medicine.

Um, it's much like politics.

I think that way.

, there's a spectrum, right?

But I think that their hands are tied in many ways.

Like, like you said, the toolbox is smaller and their time is very

limited what they have to offer.

Whereas, you know, if you see a naturopathic doctor, often you're

seeing them for an hour, maybe longer.

Mm-hmm.

. And you are being looked at as a whole person made up of all these

interconnected systems versus in a vacuum, you know, someone that's just

addressing your heart issues or just addressing maybe, you know, A lung or a

pulmonary issue or something like that.

So it's good to have you guys here and I just am so inspired by you.

And, one of the things that has shifted so much in recent times is the prominence

of social media in all of our lives.

So I love for each of you to talk just a little bit about how social media has

created more confusion in the realm of health and wellness for us, and, um, you

know, how that creates that information overload and what your take is on that.

What, what shifts you've seen.

Yeah.

So I'll, I'll go first.

I think as with all things and, and especially during the

pandemic, I think a lot of.

Got, uh, an overload of social media.

You know, it's been term doomsday scrolling, right?

We just keep, keep going, uh, as your only way to connect to, to humanity.

But you, as, as we've gotten kind of outside of that realm of isolation, still,

there's been this huge opening to an array of people that didn't used to be on social

media that now are, and also people going on to social media and, and realizing

that it's an outlet for communication.

And the, the beauty of that is you're exposed to a lot of new ideas.

Many people who have never heard of naturopathic medicine are now hearing

about it because of social media.

People are learning about nutrition and, um, supplements and herbs and

acupuncture and things that, that they would've never been exposed to.

Uh, especially if you live maybe in a smaller town.

You know, if you're not in a big city, there's not as many options

to, to be exposed to things.

So there's, there's good things about that, but it is hard to.

Differentiate between what is, um, an ad versus what is medical advice.

And unfortunately on social media, even something that doesn't look like

an ad, uh, if it's, for example, a social influencer, those people are

getting some sort of kickback for the things that they talk about.

And it may be someone that you like and respect and you, you like

a lot of other things about them.

And they may promote a product and they will say, This product changed my life.

This is what you need to do to sleep, to have good energy, to

lose weight, to change your mood.

And it's, it's not a personalized recommendation.

And there's a little bit of question mark behind that recommendation because that

person's getting a bit of a kickback.

So there's, there's pros and cons to it, and that is where it's a good idea.

beyond social media and do your research and read about things and follow journal,

journal articles and news stories so that then you have your list of questions.

Mm.

And then you go to your trusted and respected license partner.

Yeah.

In healthcare.

Right?

Right.

And that partner in healthcare can be your coach, it can be your

physician, it can be your counselor, it can be your psychiatrist,

it can be all of those people.

If you ever read reviews about me, people will say, I love that Dr.

Saunders refers me out to, to people.

I don't hesitate to get other medical providers advice.

And we may disagree.

And I tell my patients that.

I say, You know, this Dr.

May say this and I'm gonna say this.

And you get to hear what we both of us say.

And then you get to.

decide what you want to do with your body.

Mm-hmm.

based off of these informed medical opinions.

And so yeah.

Social media is a good place to create questions to then bring to

someone who can help you differentiate what is useful and what's a fad.

Right.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a, that's a good way of putting it.

Yeah.

I like

how you said that you're empowering people to

be their own self advocate, cuz I think that's really important for

all of us and to have a care team.

You also mentioned, I think that's really important that we have experts in their

field that are licensed and credentialed that, or that are your people that

you feel like are a good fit for you.

Mm-hmm.

that are your go-tos.

Even if it's someone like your primary care Naturalpathic doctor or

otherwise, that's quarterbacking it.

That is one of the things I view as my job is to know.

The best people to refer to.

I feel like as a, as a primary care doc, if I can send someone to an amazing

specialist or someone that can fill that niche that, that they're needing, then

I'm doing a really good job at my job.

So, so much of my job is really understanding other people's work as well.

But you'll hear, this person on social media for example, and they've got the

body you want, or they've got the look you want, they can do the exercise

program that, you know, if you could do that, then you're, it's none of

that's true that unless you are checking one, you have to know your body type

and your metabolic type and your.

Labs, you know, all of these things cuz you can do the same

diet, the same genetic exercise.

Yeah.

The genetic, that's a huge, huge one.

You can do the exact same thing and get none of the same results.

Yeah.

And that's one of the things I love about naturopathic medicine is that

it's so individualized and personalized and we're consistently checking in

and, and changing it as we need to as we go because we have so many options.

But it's also, like you said, looking at the whole person and not just,

and the interplay of systems and not just focusing in on, on one system.

It's really looking at the, the layers of it.

Um, another thing is a safety issue with social media.

And I think that there's a lot of people that can do a lot of damage even with

like, something like celery juice.

Not to, not to call anyone out, but Yeah.

You know, things like that seem that are.

Very much of a fad.

Yeah.

Or that seem like they work for all the thousands of people that respond to that.

It's the magic bullet.

The magic bullet.

Yeah.

To solve all your problems if you hear that

run, run away in any realm, in any arena.

That's, that's, And then also a lot of the, the people that, that

maybe are more founded or that maybe are more professional and experts

in that field will have research and they'll post the research.

Yeah.

And then you have to look at the research and see, you know,

who pays for the research.

But it's still, you know, the, the layers of, you know, are they selling something?

Are they, you know, 20 and can drink, you know, vodka all day

and smoke and still look the same?

You know, it's like, let's, let's be filter it through.

Well, one common sense and motivation, but also knowing if

you don't know what your body.

Type and what your body needs and what your limitations are like, that's a

really good place to start and no matter what the product is that they're trying

to sell.

Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with that.

Megan's raising your hand.

Go

. Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders: You tell,

the example I like to use for folks is there's no supplement that I can give you

that's gonna replace lack of sleep, right?

So you're gonna see something on social media and be like, Take this earth, Dr.

So-and-so's new product and you're gonna have tons of energy.

It's gonna help your mood.

And people come in all the time and I ask them, How much sleep are you getting?

And they're like, Well, I go to bed at one and I wake up at

five . And we stopped there, right?

And they asked me, What can you give me?

That can help with that.

Well, nothing . Nothing.

Nothing.

You know, if I could prescribe Adderall, it's outta my scope

of practice as a naturopath.

If I could maybe that give you some extra kick, but long term, that's not

gonna fix your problem to create others.

Yeah.

Your problem is not an Adderall deficiency.

Your problem is a lack of sleep.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And if you're struggling to sleep well, let's look at those causes, what's

going on there behind the scenes, really dig in causing sleep issues.

it's like fashion.

You know, when you see something that looks amazing on the models, , like,

hey, well we know that that dress might not look good on everyone, so why in

the world would a workout or a diet or a supplement work for everyone?

Right.

Right.

And something that you always say too, Brooke, that I love is, you know, Where

did we get this idea that nothing's gonna change, that we can always do the

same thing like that whatever worked for us in our twenties should work.

Now.

It's like, well, I used to just be able to drop weight immediately,

going to more cardio every week.

And why doesn't that work anymore?

I hear it every day.

, every day.

I used to do this, I used to do that.

And another thing I always ask is it, you know, especially with men,

I noticed more is when's the last time you changed your workout?

Mm-hmm.

know, I had a patient yesterday and I could tell, I was like, Let me

guess you do back buys on Monday.

Chest try on Tuesday.

Yes.

And, you know, typical five days, skip leg days every once in a while, . And

you know, and he is like, Yeah, my wife calls me out for scooping leg day.

And it's like, it's, it's, we need to train, exercise, sleep,

eat, think for our current state

of Yes.

Health Yes.

And current goals.

Right.

And.

Yeah, challenges everything.

And our bodies are so complex and dynamic, and I talk about this all the time,

that women's bodies are like a modern day, I don't know, supercar and men's

are more like a circuit, 1980s Honda.

They're just a little more simple analog, easily prepared.

And when we have all this, you know, research that is conducted with mostly

college age male subjects mm-hmm.

it doesn't necessarily apply to us gals.

It's a little more complex.

Yeah,

exactly.

Yeah.

So circling back and you know, I have to interject, and I should have

said this early on when you first introduce yourself, Brooke, but Dr.

Whites is the reason that I am even here, that I do this today.

She was my inspiration.

So back when you were personal training, while you were in medical school, I met

you and I was sharing training sessions with a friend and working out with you.

And I wasn't really into it yet.

I wasn't super

motivated.

Oh, I can speak to that.

Yeah.

I did not.

I, if you had told me in 10 years this woman is gonna be the health

and diet guru, I would've never.

Believed it.

You didn't, your flip hadn't switched yet.

It just hadn't, Yeah.

Your switch hadn't flipped yet.

, and that I can't, I can't, If I could bottle that up and give that to

people, I would, wouldn't have a job.

Really.

But if, But that was, I met you and you were Yeah.

You, You were showing up though.

You were showing up, and then all of a sudden you just took off and then

you did the metabolic effect training.

Right.

That I had had done and kept going.

And that was an inspiration to me.

Big time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But you got me into it.

Fitness was kind of the catalyst and then it was like, well, if I'm working

hard and I'm doing all this stuff, like I probably should fuel myself appropriately.

. Yeah, absolutely.

So thank you for that.

But you were an athlete yourself.

You were a division one volleyball player, right?

I was.

I was.

Yeah.

That was my first, um, actually gymnastics was my first passion.

Yeah.

Which is crazy cuz you're so tall.

It Yep.

It, I had to give it up kind of early, but, Well I stayed, I held

on a little too long, but, um, I started, my brother introduced me

to volleyball when I was around nine and I just fell in love with it.

And I still play as many days as I can.

Still still.

That's, so I was actually, that's a funny that you mentioned about the, you

know, I used to be able to do this and I used to be able to that and I remember

playing with women that were, that were better than me and it was really.

. It was really hard because, you know, sometimes they wouldn't invite me to play.

And, and then it got to the point where I started getting

better than, than they are.

And then now some of 'em aren't even able to play.

Mm.

And they're, they're, they're injured or they're overweight or they're,

you know, they're just struggling.

A lot of struggling with something health wise.

And so now my, my mantra is like, Hey, I'm, I'm here for the long game.

Like, if I can just play and, and stay healthy and not

be injured, I'm, I'm happy.

You know, I'd love to win.

I still love to compete, of course, but I'm starting to see like all

of the things like pay off that I'm actually still playing, which is you.

Which

is such a testament to consistency, right?

And to doing those fundamental things like paying attention to your nutrition,

good self care, prioritizing sleep, um, getting body work, having that care team

in place because, you know, again, our bodies are this amazing complex machine.

Like if we're hiring mechanics to make sure that our cars are running

well and financial advisors and tax experts and people to make sure these

aspects of our lives are all working and in place, why would we not do

that for our body and our health?

Which is the

most crucial thing, right?

Just to have good quality of life and better

longevity or health span rather.

Absolutely.

So coming back to natural medicine, you know, over.

The stretch of the pandemic.

We saw a lot of just weird stuff going on.

Snake oil, kind of strange things.

Some remedies actually in the long run panned out to have some

validity and some definitely did not.

Um, but I, you know, it definitely, I think resulted in more distrust

in alternative health treatments for a certain group of people.

It became really polarized.

You were either like all cdc, all conventional medicine, or you were

grouped into this, other kind of hippie woo woo, like pseudoscience group.

Right.

So I would love you each to tell a little more about your philosophy as far

as just striking that healthy balance.

And Dr.

Megan, you touched on this briefly that you know, You use pharmaceuticals and

things like this when they're appropriate.

Um, but I'd love for you just to each kind of give a super brief overview on,

you know, how you strike that really healthy balance between preventative

and natural treatments, and then also utilizing, you know, western or

conventional treatments when necessary.

Yeah.

So I would say that to the, to the question on the pandemic that it,

it's, it was an interesting experience.

I think as naturopaths we were very uniquely positioned to speak to, uh,

a lot of different audiences that maybe weren't open to conversations.

So I normally will, during an intake with a new patient, I, you know,

will go through a review of systems.

And when I'm talking about lung health, I'll say, So have you gotten covid?

Have you gotten vaccinated?

Neither or both.

Um, and I, I try not to, I try to say that as, even as tone as possible without

relaying any sort of judgment on that.

Um, because if people ask my medical opinion, I will, I will

tell them what I recommend for them.

And if I feel strongly that I need to interject it in terms of like the question

of to get vaccinated for covid or not, I, I will say something, but especially

at this point, everyone's gotten all the information they're gonna get.

People have made up their minds.

And what's interesting is when I approach it that way, um, people

will then ask me questions.

People who, when they get their backs up, because they've had doctors just

tell them, Well, you have to do this.

Mm-hmm.

, you have to get vaccinated, or, I'm not gonna see you.

And um, now I've had people who will ask me, Well, what do you think about this?

I have some concerns.

And then we have a conversation about, Pros and cons and risks and benefits and,

and because I'm a naturopath, uh, because I, I understand some concerns and I

understand that the natural health options as well, it's an easier conversation.

And, um, I, I personally have been vaccinated.

I've talked about it on my social media platforms.

It's not a secret.

And, and I, I have seen, and, and I think the, the risk and

benefit is, is outweighed there.

And I have the tools to, you know, I've take increased sync and

vitamin A and I have a whole immune supportive herbal dispenser dispensary

at my, um, at my fingertips for myself that I, that I use mm-hmm.

and that I can recommend for patients for general immune support.

Mm-hmm.

. And so having, The broad spectrum of being able to have a conversation of, Yes, I

hear that you heard on social media that you, um, don't need to worry about covid

as long as you take enough vitamin D.

Right?

Like I, I hear that.

And yeah, I've seen those studies and those are really interesting

studies and absolutely we should be checking your vitamin D Yes.

And making sure that you take it and yeah, let's do some high doses of

it if you know that you have covid acutely, not long term because you

don't wanna get a kidney stone, right?

Which can happen if you take too much vitamin D.

But also let's talk about the, the mainstream aspects and let's talk

about a vaccine or pyl or if you need an inhaler or all of those things.

So that's to that point acutely for Covid.

Um, but then in the broader spectrum of things, I would say young, mid

twenties, me going into naturopathic school, looking at me now with.

A decent amount of life experience, both personal life experience medically,

and then also the experience of working with patients and having the

privilege of, of seeing people's life struggles and, and walking through them.

Uh, younger, younger me, for example, would've been like, I'm gonna have an

all natural birth and no epidural, right?

And me having had two kids pro epidural, go for it.

Whatever you need to do to get a healthy baby that sounds great.

Or a natural birth, that's, that's fine.

It's whatever's best for you and your outcomes.

I'm not gonna sacrifice someone's health for, uh, a personal philosophy.

And, and my philosophy is changed.

And the example that I give to.

Is if someone comes in with a uti, I'm gonna say, Let's push a lot of

water, let's do some D manos and some cranberry and maybe some juniper, and

we're gonna high dose it and you're gonna leave with a prescription.

And we're running a culture in sensitivity way.

And if your symptoms are not getting better, if they're getting worse

after X amount of hours, then you're gonna start this prescription.

Yeah.

And by the way, while you're on the prescription, having a prescription is

better than having a kidney infection.

Yes.

But we know that there's side effects of being on an antibiotic like risk

of getting a cicil infection, which is for people that don't know a severe

infection of the the colon that can occur when you're on an antibiotic

and you go into the hospital for that.

Um, then we're also gonna have you take ssis bdi, which in the

research prevents c diffic cell infections when we're on antibiotics.

And then we're gonna do like six months of probiotics afterwards

to help repopulate the gut flos.

So, We're gonna pick the best intervention at this time for your health, at

the right level of intervention.

I'm not gonna give someone a kidney infection, right?

Cause I don't want them to be on antibiotic.

Um, but that said, also, all of these foundations of health pieces

that we do as a naturopath, um, um, make the drugs work better, right?

Right.

So if you need a drug, if you have, you know, I don't know, lupus

or, or something, and you're on hydroxychloroquine or something

like that, and you need that, right?

It's protecting your kidneys, it's protecting it, It's keeping

everything under control.

You're not going to need to escalate on that drug or add in other biologics

or need to be on prednisone if you're doing all the other things.

An anti-inflammatory diet, and we're managing stress, which can affect your

inflammatory markers like C R P, and we're doing all these other things so that you

can get away with the lowest dose at the most benefit of the prescription, right?

Which is what we want long term, right?

We don't want a bunch of drugs just to keep our biomarkers on board.

We want the most freedom in our lives, and whether that is with a

prescription or with an herb or with nutrition or whatever that might be,

that's what I want for my patients,

and I think that's so exciting for people to hear that are not

as familiar with this because I think that, you know, this one pronged approach

of just, just getting the prescription.

Doesn't always address all these things and it doesn't

necessarily offer prevention.

And you know, what I'm hearing you say is the term like complimentary

medicine, like these things can all work in concert together in

a really beautiful, elegant way.

And also, you know, what you're talking about is more empowering

to the client because it's not just take this med and then they're,

they're given no other tools.

You're giving them all these other tools, whether it be diet, lifestyle, um, you

know, you're referring them to other experts and essentially helping them.

Hone in on their own intuition and discernment for, well,

what's gonna work best?

That's

such a good for my body because they can't

prescribe this for themselves.

So, but what can they do?

Right?

That they can empower that, that they feel like they have control is the choices

they make with hydration, with diet, with exercise, with movement, with meditation.

Like, that's such a good point.

Because what, what we give, you know, what, what conventional

doctors give them, they can't necessarily give themselves mm-hmm.

but so what can you do in the meantime or in between visits and prevention?

And then, like, to answer the, the broader question, I love, this is where

naturopathic medicine shines, is because we, I call it like head on a swivel.

It's like, okay, cool.

What do you wanna do?

I can do this.

You wanna go climb a mountain?

Cool.

What do you wanna go play in this tournament?

Or you wanna go like, I'm ready.

Like I try to keep myself like personally and like my patients, you

know, not necessarily necessarily athletically, but if they want

like ready for literally anything.

So when a virus hits, hey, That's, We are ready for that.

Cuz we have gotten that whole, we've, it's like the garden, Like we've, we have good

soil, we've worked on the foundational pieces of health and maybe we the terrain.

Absolutely the terrain, you know.

And in my doctor, um, can I say my doctor's name?

She is, she's, uh, one of the best I, in my opinion anyway,

she's a naturopathic doctor.

One of the, one of the original, uh, elders.

I was gonna say gangsters, but both.

But, you know, she has the, the, she always gives me like a GPA on the basics.

It's like, what's your hydration?

Like what's your supplementation?

How's your sleep?

How's your stress?

How's your diet?

How's your exercise?

You know?

And I, I like to add a few things like, you know, community.

Yes.

And, and what are doing to fill your own cup.

And, you know, the, the self care, which, not to go on a huge tangent,

but you were talking about about.

About that earlier.

And I think that women especially are so almost apologetic about self care

and, you know, oh, oh, you took a nap.

Oh, that must be nice.

Right?

I mean, even just like a passing comment about something to, to fill

your own cup so that, let alone, so that you can help other people.

Cuz like most of us, that's what we're doing.

Whether it's, you know, our job if especially, but our children.

Um, or just to be able to be present like for the world or

for yourself or, you know, in the moment, whatever, whatever that is.

But we, we just, we somehow thrive or, or think that it's a badge of honor

to, I, I think that is work bone.

Yeah.

I think that's, it is changing, but I do feel.

Other like that we judge each other for doing self care and really we

need to be applauding or saying, Hey, let's go do this together, or Right.

Or checking in.

It's like you would check in on someone if they were sick, but you need to check

in on people so that they don't, Don't.

Exactly.

Exactly.

So yeah, I think that naturopathic.

Medicine absolutely shines in that we, we work on that foundational piece

so that when you do get accosted, which you will, when you do have an

introduction, whether it's, you know, you're flying on an airplane or you're

around a kid, or you know, who just started daycare, you know, we are, we

are immune system's ready and is we're is able to do what it is supposed to do.

Yeah.

We've removed obstacles from cure.

We've supported the systems, we've optimized the nutrients,

and so our body does respond.

So when you get covid, for example, you know, and, and of course everyone's

different and is working with a different gene full, which you do bathe your

genes, of course your genes are only expressed how, what you bake them in.

So we can have it, you know, a tough, you know, be dealt tough

deck, but you know, or a hand.

But when it really matters.

We, how, what we do to express or not express them.

So we have a lot of control.

Um, another thing my Naturalpathic doctor says is, health is

freedom from limitation.

I love that.

I love that statement.

Yeah.

I've repeated that before too.

Health is freedom from limitation.

Yeah.

It's powerful.

I mean, think about that for a second.

You know, if you're truly healthy, I mean, that means that you can move and

live and travel and be with your brand.

All of those things.

And I have patients say often, I just wish that I could blank or mm-hmm.

I don't feel like I'm free to blank.

And that always pops up for me.

And that's why I think like the longevity game, like the long game,

it's like, okay, yeah, my, my mission, my is the long game and right.

And it's, and it has to be a little bit in all the categories every day.

You know?

Right.

And you know, and myPath always says to me like, Your saving grace is your

exercise, and then you eat Well, Brooke, if you didn't, you'd be failing.

You know?

Yeah.

So it's, you know, obviously you can't, you can compensate a little

bit with other categories, but we have to be doing all of it.

That's the magic

bullet.

Yeah.

That's the magic bullet.

And it's not quick or easy necessarily, but that's really the difference here.

Right.

I mean, I, I hear so often that people say, Well, I don't want to feel deprived

when it comes to making food choices.

Mm-hmm.

. And what I sell them is, well, you're already starting to, especially

if they're starting to see health issues already, you know, and they're

experiencing limitations because of that.

And so having them kind of examine, well, which do I want more?

It's their choice, The tasty thing or whatever that I don't wanna give up or.

That, you know, excess, whatever it might be, sugar, alcohol, you name it,

whatever, you know, your, your go to thing is, or, you know, do you wish

in the moment that you could enjoy just being on the beach with your

family and like, not like, and being able to, you know, snor or skydive or

run, jump,

whatever it might be that you're not able to do right

now, Like, in the long run, what are you gonna care about more?

And people don't think of it that way.

So it's really just a mindset shift.

It's like you're depriving yourself of something.

It's a choice.

Mm-hmm.

, Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders:

One of my favorite topics that, that I talk with people a lot

about is, is mental health.

And so, One of the ways I talk to people about, right, So if you're

we're looking at labs and someone is, you know, prediabetic, like

they have metabolic syndrome, my cholesterols up the prediabetic,

there's a lot of things going on.

Um, a lot of people have a general idea.

Maybe they don't know exactly what they should be doing, but they kind

of know like, yay shouldn't be eating burgers and chocolate every day in soda.

Like they know they, Yeah, people know those kind of basic things.

They might know, not know exactly how to do it, but they know that part.

And I, I tell folks.

and my goal in referring people to work with like a health coach or a

nutritionist or any sort of specialist for like meal planning is to, to

help them, you know, get an idea of, of how to, to dial in those pieces.

But a lot of it is around, it's a symptom and it's, it's a mental health symptom.

If we're driving off a cliff quickly and you saw someone doing it

quickly, you'd be like, Oh, they're having a mental health problem.

This is, this is self-harm.

And to some extent, the same thing can be said about these behaviors, right?

Yeah.

So if we know that we're smoking and we know that that's a slow

drive off the cliff, right?

If we know that our diet and lifestyle choices are causing us

to develop type two diabetes, it's, it's a slow drive off the cliff.

Yeah.

And it, it is.

It is a, it is a mental health sentiment.

So I normally talk to people about, Okay, well why You mentioned feeling deprived.

Well, why do we feel like I, like I really, I love BNE Brown

and, and anyone who doesn't know who she is, you can Google her.

She has the number one TED Talk ever.

And, um, she, she at one point mentions on one of her podcasts about the

difference between eating a piece of chocolate, where it's like, Give

me the damn piece of chocolate.

And you're like, Grandma, I need some chocolate.

Is using the chocolate.

My memory of her, her reflection of this versus the, mm, this,

this chocolate is so good.

I'm just gonna have a piece of the tastes really good.

This is delicious.

I'm enjoying it.

I'm present.

Yeah, same chocolate, savoring it, same calories, really experiencing it.

Same.

, but the, the impulse, the grab, the, I need a piece of chocolate, I

need a cigarette, I need a burger, I need a soda, I need whatever.

Yeah.

That's from anxiety, that's from stress, that's from overwork.

That's a mental health symptom.

And normally when I have patients that they're struggling with that

I, I talk to them about that and I say, Hey, do you have a counselor?

Yeah.

Like, let's not, She does say that a lot.

You totally, I do.

I do say that a lot.

I refer all the time for this.

And, and, and people think that if they, just going back to the social

media thing, they want the bullet, they want the diet that's gonna

fix it for them and make that easy.

But actually what works is the long term slow and steady lifelong

changes that allow you to.

Enjoy the chocolate.

Mm-hmm.

have some ice cream that, that's fine.

Do that once a week.

Whatever.

Do your thing.

As long as long term, the overall average is health and wellness.

Right.

Right.

And, and so that's, that's, and and another important piece about that, that

gets stigmatized a lot is sometimes I see patients and it's too overwhelming

to even think about calling a counselor.

They're so far down the hole.

Yeah.

And then we talk about prescriptions and getting, there's a, there's a lot of, of

stigma around that, but when you're so far down the hole that you can't imagine

pulling yourself out, that's when I say like, Let's talk about some Zoloft.

Let's talk about some, you know, let's talk about some Lexapro.

Let's, let's talk about these things.

And I never prescribe a mental health medication without also,

telling a patient the plan is for you to go to a counselor.

This is not a forever fix.

Yeah.

For you, this is a, when it's too overwhelming to think

about calling a counselor.

Mm-hmm.

, we're gonna get on a medication so that you can still go to your job, be a

parent, do the things that you can do, keep walking forward while you're doing

the things that you need to do so that you don't need to be on a medication.

And there's a lot of stigma around that, and especially patients

who come and see a naturopath.

Folks don't want to be on a medication and they're tired of doctor.

They're tired of walking into a doctor's office and the doctor being like, You

just need to go on an antidepressant.

Yeah.

And it's the same thing as the chocolate.

Like, I may be prescribing an antidepressant, but I'm not

telling him this is the fix.

I'm telling him this is the hand up.

Yeah.

While we do, And then there's other things too.

There's so many herbs and supplements and other things that can also

help with mood and, and, and all of these other approaches, but.

I mental health is one of those really important steps to freedom.

Going back to, to that piece, and as a naturopath, we talk a lot about, that's

we're, we're the quarterback, we're, we're the gp, and we talk about everything.

Tell me about your poop.

Tell me about, I was gonna say that, Oh, we talked so much about food in my office.

Tell me about how many hours a week do you work.

Work, Tell me about your sleep.

Tell me about all of this.

And mental health is a really big one because this isn't, Naturopathic

medicine is not the easy fix.

And if you find someone that tells you that it is, they're, they're misleading

you and it takes a lot of work and you, you've gotta be ready for that.

Yeah.

And I can absolutely relate to that because I think that,

you know, um, You're right.

There's, there's such a stigma around that.

And if I tell somebody, Well, you just need to eat anti-inflammatory diet, but

the person is so either depressed or anxiety ridden that they can't navigate

the grocery store or get themselves out of bed to cook meals for themselves, I'm

not helping them by telling them that.

Right.

We can have, it's not helping quote perfect

treatment plan.

Yeah.

But you know, it really is a collaboration.

Like what's meeting them where they're at.

Yeah.

What do you think you can do?

Mm-hmm.

, what sounds good.

And I also, I kind of stopped asking people about exercise.

I said, I, I, Cuz you know the percentage of people that actually love to go lift

weights and like pump iron is and is.

Few.

Really, it's a lower percentage of people.

Now.

I happen to be a total gym rat.

So this took me a little while to, to make that shift.

But I, I ask people, and I have heard so many patients say, I'm

so scared to walk into a gym.

I'm so intimidated.

And it's like, who says the gym is how we get our why?

Why do you have to run in order to

wait?

Yeah.

It's so why?

So I say, What do you do for movement?

What is fun?

How do you, how do you move your body?

What is something you enjoy?

Mm-hmm.

. And that's a, a totally different feeling than me asking someone almost

like, Well, how much are you exercising?

You know?

It's, it's a very different feel and it, and it's like you said, meeting people

where they are and coming up with a plan.

And even if it's just step one that they are on board with and maybe

they come up with it for themselves.

Right, Right.

So what would you tell people who maybe financially don't have access now?

I know, you know, I believe both of you and and many naturopaths now

are accepting in some insurances, which is awesome, but a lot don't.

And depending on the state that people may live in, you know, that

may not be an option for them.

So what would you tell people?

And even if they do have access to natural medicine, functional medicine, etcetera.

What are sort of the criteria that you would give them when it comes to

choosing a physician or maybe the red flags that they should look out for

when they're looking for that, that care

team?

Look at what state you're in if you're looking for a naturopath.

Right.

So in Washington State, I, at the beginning, I'm licensed

through the Department of Health as a primary care physician.

Mm-hmm.

, There are some states that naturopathic medicine is not licensed

in, and you can take your weekend.

And call yourself a naturopath.

So buyer beware, you're not allowed to do that.

In was no one can take a weekend course in Washington State and

say that they're a naturopath.

It's, it's regulated by the primary of health.

I'm a primary care physician.

Mm-hmm.

. Um, so, so number one, be cautious about that, just cuz someone says the word

naturopath, they're online schools.

They'll say you're now a naturopath and, and it looks legit.

The degrees look legit.

Yeah.

Um, and so you can go online to the American Association of Naturopathic

Physicians and find out what are the, I think there's now five or six

accredited schools in North America.

Mm-hmm.

and that's it.

And if those doctors haven't graduated from there, they are not a licensed

primary care naturopathic physician.

Taking insurance doesn't necessarily mean that you are a

legitimate physician or not, Right?

So like in California, um, naturopath are, are licensed physicians, but

aren't able to accept insurance.

Mm-hmm.

, so still cash based practice.

So that's an important piece.

Um, if you're in a state that doesn't license naturopaths, then you know, you

want to find doctors that are licensed.

You want a physician that you trust, that you like, that you

respect and that listens to you.

Um, and they might not need to know everything, right?

But you need to have a trusting relationship.

And there's a lot of times that I tell my patients, they'll ask me a

question and I'll say, I don't know.

I'm gonna look into that.

Yeah.

And because to pretend that I know everything is egotistical

and false , and that would be lying to myself if I thought that.

And so you wanna have a doctor that, that you trust, because in the end, you're,

you're trusting them with your life.

And then to be able to negotiate what's available online and

what you should do or not do.

I, I would look into that person's background.

Mm-hmm.

, what's their training?

Who's sponsoring them?

What's the, who's paying for, That's a what, where if you're listening to a

talk online, who's paying for that talk?

Are they selling those supplements?

And that, that doesn't always, that's not a hundred percent back off, but it

does mean read through it with a grain of salt in terms of financial incentive.

Mm-hmm.

and, and be

cautious.

Yeah.

And I, the same thing would go for.

Any study, right?

Always look at who is funding it.

And just because something doesn't have a ton of science behind it

doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong.

It just might mean that it's not a big money maker or there's not a lot

of financial incentive behind it.

Um, but no, I think those are really, really great points.

And I think that you said something really cool earlier, Megan, about

people should speed date their doctor.

Oh yeah.

I love that.

Like, if you don't like the first one, try somebody else.

Because I think that home, it's just like dating.

Like you can kind of get an idea of, I like this, but not that.

Or I think people just need to practice more listening to that gut instinct and

getting gauge on how does this person, how do I feel around this person?

Do they give me a good vibe?

Do I feel like I was heard and seen?

Um, so I felt like, feel like they were compassionate, like all of those

things and really starting to listen to our own gut instincts, because

especially when it comes to doctors, I think that we're taught to sort of be

like, Oh, well they do know everything.

Like the doctor said it, this must just be the way it is.

That must

be truth.

Interview them for the job, right?

Yeah.

So like for a primary care doctor?

Yeah.

I want someone who listens to me that I think is competent, that

I feel comfortable around with.

For a neurosurgeon.

I don't care.

They've been manner, I don't care at all if I get the warm fuzzies about them.

All I want is that I think they are competent and that they explain

to me that I trust their plan.

That they know what they're doing.

Yeah.

Like I still want the conversation.

I don't want a jerk, but they don't have to gimme the warm fuzzies.

Right.

I just wanna know that they're good.

But for, for that, the, the quarterback again, Form fuzzies.

Right.

You wanna trust them and

like them.

Absolutely.

I

think this is a, a really good topic in terms of

kind of the, the projection and the evolution of how medicine has been

where you're seeing a group of, people that use these, walk-in clinics.

Mm.

As their, their primary care or when they need a doctor, they don't

have an established relationship.

And relationship's kind of the key word with a doc.

Or you might have these online forums that you have, like, um, there's a few

out there where they have that, that's kind of your primary care doc, but you

don't get to necessarily read forums and you don't get to meet them in person.

Right.

You don't have this longevity, You know, I have patients Sure.

Where I, you know, they're, I know their dog's name and I,

you know, how's the move going?

Or how is, you know, so and so's college going?

There's, there's, there's a value to that longevity of the relationship

that is, is not existent when you're going for just a snapshot, Right.

Of a medical advice in, in that particular instance.

But they don't have your entire.

History and your, and, and not just your health history, but like

what, what works for you, You know?

Exactly.

And what your, what's your day like, what's your life like?

What is gonna work for you in, in considering all of these factors?

Yeah.

So having that, so maybe these docs are excellent docs, and these walkin clinic

docs are, you know, they're, they're great docs, but this is a different, this is

something that I feel like people should be seeking is this, this quarterback, this

primary care functional medicine doctor or naturopathic doctor, um, or conventional

doctor that really knows them and that they really feel a connection with.

Yes.

I remember one of the first times I saw a naturopathic doctor and my mind was blown.

I mean, a, I was like, Hurry up, cuz I don't have . I hadn't planned

like an hour of my day to be there, but they actually like touched me.

Now obviously the, you know, depending on again, where we are, I mean, but they

like looked at my fingernails mm-hmm.

and were my, you know, did my fingernails have ridges?

Did I have moons?

Like they touched my like face and my skull, like all these things and

actually like, interacted with me.

And so you can't do that via strictly online visits or telemedicine visits.

Mm-hmm.

, I think there's a place, a time and place for all those things.

I think they're great that people can access more, you know, functional,

natural approaches to medicine through these, these platforms.

But I think that, um, It can't make up for that.

Like you say, that relationship that you establish with someone when they

actually see you physically mm-hmm.

trust takes interact with you.

Yeah.

And get to know who you are and what your life looks like, and what your

stressors are, and what your relationships

are.

And it doesn't matter how many Instagram followers you have, that

is not a direct relationship between the quality of care you're gonna get.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And many of the really brilliant practitioners that I know have

very little social media presence because they have busy practices

and they don't have time to do it.

Right.

They don't have time to do it.

And, you know, if that's your focus, great.

Knock yourself out.

But, um, yeah, definitely don't be fooled by that.

If you're looking at someone's Instagram following to gauge their credibility.

That's, that's definitely a mistake sake.

So, um,

Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders: Can I plug one person that

I think folks should follow?

If you wanna, if you're in a state and you don't have any primary care naturopathic

accessibility, you should follow Dr.

Paul Anderson.

Mm,

Yeah.

I second that.

He's pretty great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I third

tagging your

podcast.

Kudos Dr.

Paul Anderson.

Yeah.

Um, alright, so supplements, this is something that we've sort of touched

on here and there, but as many of you may know, and as the three of

us definitely know, supplements are a poorly regulated industry.

There's a lot of garbage out there.

Um, what are the top tips that you would give our listeners to kind of navigate

that and make choices so that they know that they're getting what they pay for?

It's safe.

It's not gonna harm 'em and it.

Will hopefully help them versus, you know, flushing their money down the

toilet for something at, you know, a big box store or something that's Yeah.

Literally that's useless or potentially harmful.

Well,

do you want I can start, I can start with a few of the things

that I, that I tell patients because, you know, we use the term primed out

where, you know, they can get, we're so used to getting something on Amazon.

Mm-hmm.

, Yeah.

Quickly.

And, and the, the platforms that I typically use, you know, I tell

patients, Okay, we carry about 20.

Or so brands, they, most of them are only, you can only get through

a, a licensed physician or licensed health healthcare coach or some kind,

and we pick them very carefully.

Um, so that's one thing is that we've, there's, you know, we've been

through multiple formulations that do the same thing for PMs, for example.

And this is the one we're choosing to have literally have on our shelf.

Mm-hmm.

. And it's not just there because it says PMs form, you know, PMs support.

It's, we have tried multiple ones.

So, and we've collected, you know, I've been practicing almost 15 years

and all, you know, combined, we've all, so the ones that we have hand

literally handpicked because they work.

Um, another thing is every single supplement we use is third party tested

and each individual bottle is tested.

Mm-hmm.

and there's very few.

There's very, there's only a handful of companies that can say that.

Um, furthermore, the baseline of non gmo, gluten free, dairy free, corn free,

additive free and preservative, all of those things, like, that's just like the

very bare minimum for me before I'd even look at it, even consider a product.

You know, patients bring in to me, Hey, what do you think about this all the time?

And if it, if those things aren't met, and if they aren't third

part, you know, then forget it.

Not to mention the shipping is so, so, so important in terms of IR

radiation and temperature regulation.

I mean, especially for things like probiotics, but those

type of conditions matter.

An imitation is a huge problem.

Another thing is that, a lot of these products can be very harmful

if we're over harvesting them.

A lot of these sources for the, these top companies, they're very, very careful

on if they're, if there's an endangered, you know, defending the resource.

Exactly.

So they're very, very careful about not exploiting the, the resources overall

sustainably sourcing ingredients.

And so that's a huge thing is, is the sustainability piece and like

the actual ingredients that they're choosing and the, what they're using

to, to actually grow the, the herbs or, or whatever, whatever the case may be.

So it's, it's, it's a quality issue.

Big time.

Yeah.

Yeah, I,

I like to use, there's an example that I

learned when I was school in school, So this, this study's now pretty

old, but quite some time ago, bae had had done a study on probiotics

that are available over the counter.

And they tested 'em to find out what was in it.

And so some of them had what they said they had in it, some of them

did not, and some of them had pathogenic bacteria, so things in

it that would make you sick, right?

And so when people tell me, Oh, I got this probiotic from, you know,

whatever the story, I just picked up the one cuz it was the cheapest.

Well, that.

Maybe that's one of the good ones, or maybe that's the one

that's gonna make you sick.

And so there are some things, uh, that are probably less

important for quality control.

Um, but things that are really important for quality control, things like fish oil.

I wouldn't get just any old fish oil off the shelf.

I wouldn't even give it to my dog.

Yeah, right.

So it needs to be tested for heavy metals.

The official that I like to use is tested for radioactive nucleotides.

If we know anything about the state of our oceans, we know that's important as well.

Um, same thing with probiotics.

I only recommend probiotics that I know have been tested.

They have an expiration date on the bottle.

They reference the exact strains in it because in the strains are the ones

that are referenced in the studies that we can say, Yes, this exact strain of

octopus has been shown to be helpful for IBS or cibo, or, you know, whatever the,

the thing is that we're using it for.

And so those things are very important to have it batch tested so that we know,

okay, yeah, this lot has been tested.

It says what it has in it.

Mm-hmm.

at these doses.

And unfortunately, you know, I had a patient the other day bring in a

bottle of fish oil and I, and she's like, Well, you think about this.

And I said, Well, I don't know, you know, heavy metals, et cetera,

Everything I just told you.

And she said, Well, I think it is tested for heavy metals.

And, and I looked at the bottle and it, it, it wasn't, what it said was

harvested from low mercury fish.

Oh, right.

And then it had a little star.

And in tiny, tiny print at the bottom of the bottle it referenced.

That FDA guidelines for mercury exposure and that that's not, When we're talking

about naturopathic medicine, we're not talking about the least bad option.

We're talking about what's the best option.

Yeah.

And if you're gonna spend your money on something, this is outta of your pocket.

This isn't a prescription that you're gonna pay.

If you have a good insurance plan, like $7, you're gonna be paying

money every month to be taking this.

Let's make sure that it's a high quality thing that's going,

going to make a difference.

Um, and so that's, that's normally what I, I tell folks is if they

have something that they found that they notice a difference with.

And it's a brand that I'm not familiar with.

I say, Well, I can't speak here or there about that product because it

takes the, the brands that I recommend, I did spend time researching in.

They meet certain criteria in terms of quality control.

And unless I'm really excited about something, I'm not gonna do that again.

My patients could do that if they want to, but I do not, unless they

want to pay me for that visit where I spend the time looking into it

Exactly for that individual product to spend whole, I'm not gonna weigh

in how I is doing that for people.

Yeah.

I'm not gonna weigh in on, on a product that I, I can't vouch

for their quality control, but the things that I do recommend,

I don't get a commission from it.

I recommend things based off of what I think will be

beneficial to people's health.

Yeah.

And.

That's, that's, I don't, I don't recommend it for any other reason.

And that loops right back around to you.

First question of social media and Instagram , why is

this person recommending it?

Are they making a profit off of it?

Yeah.

That's another reason why it's nice to see a medical professional about

these things because that's, this isn't my source of income as supplements.

Right.

Like I'm, I'm a physician and that's what I'm paid

to do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you have, between the two of you top three favorite brands

that you Oh, are to, would say?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Oh, I mean, you're not affiliated with them.

I mean, they're carry clinic.

No, I have no's

not, I would've to say Designs for

Health is very high on my list.

I love that they use

glass

bottles.

I do too.

The glass bottles are I, I like the whole environmental aspect

of, of that, that thought.

Yeah.

I like their product as well and it works.

But I also love that they use glass bottles.

Oh

man, we have, I have, I mean, we, we love

Zymogen.

We love Zymogen.

Um, we do use a lot of Zymogen.

They've got great products, great research, Um, everything we choose,

we're constantly learning about, and they're, we're constantly

updating our, our dispensaries.

It, it is a, it's a constant work in progress.

So when, when we have something that we pull off the shelf, it

is very intentionally there.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

, um, for a lot of reasons.

Um, and it's, and it has nothing to do with finances.

Yeah.

Whatsoever.

I, I like integrative therapeutics.

priority one is a good one.

Yeah.

Wise women's wise woman, Herbal Gaia is a good one.

I got the opportunity to actually visit the Wise Woman herbal facility.

That was a lot of fun.

Ortho Molecular, I do love Ortho Molecular.

We use a lot of their products.

They have excellent, Yeah.

Excellent products,

but don't go on Amazon and buy these things.

Exactly, exactly.

The problem with they're not, Amazon says if they're available on Amazon,

they say right on on their supplements.

They say, We are not supplement company.

We cannot guarantee quality control.

It might be sitting in a trailer in 110 degrees in Arizona for three

months before it gets shipped to you.

And so that you do want to, not only the brand is important, but

also the, the chain of handling.

Right?

Right.

You want to know that it, it has been properly cared for throughout

that time and we have workarounds

for that.

We use specific.

Companies that deliver and that, or for ordering and, and delivering.

Are we allowed to say their names?

You know, we use specific places that we know we can trace back

and that we know they're stored properly and we know, Right.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it takes five days, you know, to get the supplements

and that's okay.

It is okay, because you're getting what you're paying for, right.

You're investing in your health.

You might as well know that it's, it's legit and it's

worth your time and your money.

. Yeah.

Yeah.

So, um, wrapping up here, any final tips for people as far as, you know, just using

their intuition, being their own advocate?

Any final pro tips for people as they navigate this, this world and this wealth

of overwhelming information out there?

I, I like to tell my, So you should find a doctor.

You realize that your, your doctor is your employee.

You're hiring a physician, um, and you get to fire them as well

if they don't work well for you.

And, uh, a mentor of mine that I studied with for several years, Dr.

Jeff Harris, had the opportunity one time a patient came into his

office and her head was kind of down.

She was a little bashed, and she was like, I saw another

doctor , like she had cheated on him.

She hadn't been in for a while.

And he had the best response for that.

He said, I am a tool in your toolbox.

And a hammer doesn't get upset if you need a wrench, Right?

Like that, that

go, yeah.

Make

Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders: the best choices for your life.

And that even happens in our practice.

Um, I, you know, we, we share patients and sometimes patients

will be like, well, Maybe I wanna work with you or I wanna work with

this other doctor and is that okay?

That's fine.

Yeah.

I, I have a full busy practice.

I, I am not personally attached to you listening to what I have to say.

I'm personally attached to having you feeling good about

your choices in your life.

Right.

And, and if you wanna work with me, that's great.

And if you're showing up in my office because someone else told you that I'm

gonna be the cure to all your problems and you think that I'm full of it, , I

don't wanna work with you either.

Yeah.

That's not gonna work well.

So you, you need to build your team and, you know, I have a team,

I have a primary care physician.

Two of 'em, they're a team and one's a nurse practitioner.

She's not a naturopath, she's an integrative practitioner.

Yeah.

And I have an acupuncturist and I have.

, a counselor, an massage therapist.

Mm-hmm.

, and I have my team and I don't see them all the time, but

I see them when I need them.

Right.

And, and that you should build your team and I trust all of them.

Yeah.

I would, I totally agree with, with that.

And I would say, um, that in terms of, of yes, having a team and

also just how you commit and your approach to your own healthcare.

Yeah.

So I, I.

That you have to be senior primary care at least twice a year and

just know, like, this is, this is at their minimum twice a year.

Mm-hmm.

, you need to know where your ship's heading.

We don't wanna get to the point where we have to turn it around.

We need to see that coming.

That's how we're putting it a mile away, you know, miles away.

And I, I always tell patients, you know, it, it, it took 10 years

for these to hit this number.

I could have seen this 10 years ago.

Mm-hmm.

, this is not an overnight thing.

We don't wait until we have to turn it around.

That's why we have data points all along the way.

And that's, and that's testing, that's actual lab testing.

So it's like we're combining the clinical presentation and what you're saying, how

you're feeling, the signs and symptoms.

We're also looking at the actual data that we can take, whether.

Blood sugar or continuous glucose monitoring or your, your, you know, a

full lipid profile with a lipoprotein profile, not just the basics.

We can talk about that forever, another time, but it's, it's,

you know, I'm seeing my person at least twice a year, bare minimum.

I also really encourage patients to keep a health journal because our recollection,

I mean, I know mine has, you know, gotten worse and worse through the years.

And we wanna be able to look at the, the, again, data points,

put the pieces together.

Oh, it seems like every October this seems to happen.

Or, Oh, I have about three more viruses this year than I did the year before.

Or I'm having more cavities lately.

Or things that we're not necessarily putting together in as our whole health.

And so having it in a journal form and writing it down, I like to just put it in

a calendar or I have to use an aura ring.

So I'll record a lot of things in the, in the aura ring.

But having that, that kind of health journal so that you're able to

actually see in front of your face and you don't have to recall, you know?

Right.

A lot of times when things are better, you don't recall them.

Of course, I'll say that to patients all the time.

I know we all say, Well, how's that?

Oh, that I know that's not a thing.

I'm like, No.

Well, you and you literally read what they said and they're like, Oh yeah.

You know?

Yeah.

So I forgot that was bothering me.

But you know, we need to have all of, all of those.

Those things written so that when you do show up to your visit and maybe we

could do a whole podcast on what is the best way to help someone help you, you

know, what is the best thing that yeah, we could do as to be the best patients.

And I certainly could work on that myself, but it's, you know, showing up

and saying, Okay, here's my questions.

Here's what I'm concerned about and here's what I've noticed about my

health and here's my my health points.

Cuz they might not ask, you know, you might be going in for something specific,

but then also, you know, you have to have those, you know, twice a year

check-ins where you're laying it all out.

So we're seeing like the constellation,

right?

You connect the dots between potential patterns or things that are going

on that the person may not be

exactly.

Particularly aware of.

Exactly.

Conscious of.

Cool.

Well that's awesome and you guys are awesome and I'm so glad you joined me.

Thank you for this.

This is fantastic.

Now I want you to each just tell us how people can find you and work with

you and, um, Megan, why don't you.

Yeah, so I currently am in private practice, a

group practice at Cascade Integrative Medicine in Isao, Washington.

And you can find me on Instagram and Facebook, Dr.

Megan Anderson Saunders.

Um, I'm, I'm out there,

so Great.

And I'll put all this in the show notes too, so you guys

don't have to memorize this.

Don't worry.

So I,

I work at the same, uh, clinic as Megan as well

at Cascade Integrated Medicine.

I also work at Peak Performance and Prevention and Puyallup.

And I've been there a few years, and I'm very, very poor at social

media, but I do have a presence at, I believe it's Dr brooke whites.com.

Exactly.

Don't go with that.

And then my Instagram, I believe.

Dr.

Brooke Whites.

Um,

Dr. Megan Anderson Saunders: she's one of those busy doctors

that doesn't have time to be on

social media cause

she's so busy.

I think my last post was over two years ago.

Pretty sure it was.

So that's, uh, on my, on that's a goal of mine only because

I like the education piece.

Yeah.

And I think that's such a big part of our medicine is the education piece.

So the ary.

So that's something I do plan on working on a lot of the times

just because I repeat the same thing over and over and over.

So I really wanna just share it cause I realize everyone

needs to hear specific things.

So that can be one of my goals.

But yeah, dr brook whites.com.

Great.

I love it.

All right, you too.

Well, thank you so much for being here and everybody.

Like I say, I'll put this information in the show notes.

You can check these gals out and we just encourage you to be your own advocate.

Listen to your instincts, do your research.

It will pay off in the end, and we just wish you all the best of health

and we will see you next time.

Thanks, Jeanie.

Thanks.

Thanks Jean.