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A new year means new possibilities. How about a new year focused on a better, happier, healthier you? In our very first episode of 2025, Dr. Melody Rodarte, a board-certified obesity and internal medicine specialist, brings her expertise in holistic and preventative medicine to help listeners jumpstart their wellness and health goals for the new year. From the importance of prioritizing sleep, exercise, and nutrition, to recognizing food as both medicine and potential poison, Dr. Rodarte covers practical, manageable ways to build healthier habits that last.

With two-thirds of Americans facing obesity and a healthcare system often driven by insurance codes, Dr. Rodarte shares her passion for patient-focused care and the steps everyone can take to regain control of their well-being. She faces the red flags of the healthcare industry, including the big Pharma ideals, weight loss fad diets, and the craze about GLP-1.

Dr. Rodarte also dives into the role of personalized medicine and the vital importance of hormones for both men and women as we age. For listeners ready to explore a new approach to health, this episode is packed with tangible steps for achieving your health and fitness goals for 2025. Stay tuned for our part 2 wellness in 2025 episode series dropping in 2 weeks! Remember, this year isn’t about a brand-new you—it’s about becoming a better, stronger, and healthier version of you!

No Grey Areas is a motivational podcast with captivating guests centered around how our choices humanize, empower, and define who we become. This podcast is inspired by the cautionary tale, No Grey Areas, written by Joseph Gagliano. Learn more about the truth behind his story involved with sports' biggest scandal at https://www.nogreyareas.com/

Host

Host

Spoiler alert she gives us powerful strategies for achieving all things health, wellness, and balance. As we jump into this new year, here we go.

Pat McCalla

Melody, welcome

Pat McCalla

back to the No Gray Areas podcast. So good to have

Dr. Melody Rodarte

you.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Good to be here.

Pat McCalla

Pat McCalla

So what I want to do before we start getting is some specific questions. And for our audience, this is going to be I think we're going to get it going to get a lot of like tangible ways that we can positively impact our health. But before that, I want to back up and get a little bit of your story.

Pat McCalla

Who you are, what you do is specifically. I should have introduced you as doctor Melody, Renata and why, as a doctor, you chose the specific field you went in because, as I understand it, as you're moving through education, eventually you have to kind of decide on on your focus. What is your focus and why did you decide on

Dr. Melody Rodarte

that?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

My focus is internal medicine and specifically obesity medicine because I'll back up. I absolutely loved kind of learning everything. Your third and fourth year of medical school, you're doing rotations through everything and I noticed myself being drawn back to the education part and seeing kind of the being the quarterback that was watching everything else happen. So I would love each specialty, but I didn't want to just stay in that because I wanted to then say, this is how you implement it for the heart, and this is for the kidneys and for the brain.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And so I thought, well, I'm just going to become an internal medicine physician, because when I'm dealing with adults and I want to empower adults, I noticed very quickly that pediatrics kids scared me, especially if they were like less than two. And I didn't like it.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I knew that was out.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I didn't want to deliver babies. I actually traded people out for delivering babies. I did the surgeries they could deliver. I was always like, oh my gosh, am I going to drop one as they come out? And so it became easy to become an adult doctor. And then, I think I, I've always wanted to help people prevent disease.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So moving into integrative functional holistic medicine became even easier, you know, 20 years now into this like that's that's my forte. That's where it really where where I love it. Because if you don't have disease progression, you are a better part of society. You are, you know, you are able to live your life to its fullest.

Pat McCalla

So speaking to prevention a little bit because I love that because

Pat McCalla

I wouldn't be wrong in saying that a lot of medicine today are Western medicine is, you know, you go in with something and it's almost like they put a little Band-Aid on it, but you're never really getting the source of it when you talk about prevention.

Pat McCalla

That's why I was so interested in having you on our podcast, because this is about choices, the

Dr. Melody Rodarte

of power.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah, human

Pat McCalla

choices. And and with prevention, we can make choices. So so dig in that a little bit more. What do you mean by prevention.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So I love that you can actually go. And instead of your typical let's say annual where you maybe just get your blood pressure, heart rate and kind of a little bit of a physical exam and just basic blood work. Sure. That's great. But there's a bigger, deeper dive that you can do. There are extra tests that you can do.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Especially when we find out what your family history is, where you grew up, what you've been exposed to, those that starts to kind of, in my mind, go, okay, I'm going to do a bigger cholesterol panel. I'm going to go looking for other issues, because if I find them, I can say, look, you have the predisposition for x, Y, and Z.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

These are the things that we want to do to prevent x, y and z. And in the past we used to think, well, if you are genetically, prone to x, Y and Z, that's it. Just we have to just sit back, wait till it develops, and then guess what? We've got a drug they put you on and I'm like, that's.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I don't believe in that. I want to know okay. You have the predisposition. These are the things that we're going to do to prevent the progression. And the expression of that gene. There are like 95% of your genes. You can actually help them express themselves correctly.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Really?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah, yeah.

Pat McCalla

and then going back again to the medicine, the Western medicine, a lot of it is

Pat McCalla

you're right. You're almost told like, okay, you come from a family. So instead of just saying x, Y and Z, we'll use like diabetes

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Right?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Great.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

One

Pat McCalla

from a family that has diabetes, and so you're going to be a diabetic, but you're saying that there's a lot you can do to prevent that or to to help that,

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Right. It's true. And and the biggest thing on that one is I love my colleagues. But why do we wait for the diagnosis of diabetes to to start the education and to start the medications? Prediabetes is actually a code that we can use. Insulin resistance is a code like why don't we start telling people you're you're showing insulin resistance, you're showing prediabetes.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Can I come back on?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Oh, yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

For sure, for sure, because it's really important. I would love to talk about that. So I think unfortunately in medicine, physicians are so busy that they want, an actual code that they can write to the insurance company to prove that you need a test or you need a medication, or you need a follow up, or they're even trying to make sure they get paid correctly.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And I left that world because I don't want to play by the insurance rules. I want to play by the health rules. My patient sitting in front of me. What do you need to stay healthy? I don't want to implement things, you know. And that's where medicine, in all honesty, I feel like there are there's a definite divide now.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

You're either for the patient or for for big pharma and insurance companies, and you have to choose how you're going to practice. I choose the patient in front of me. I that's my choice.

Pat McCalla

So first of all, masterful how you did that. I said I'm going to come back to that question. And you rolled the answer

Dr. Melody Rodarte

into both questions. So

Pat McCalla

that was masterful. Nice job.

Pat McCalla

So you're saying that a lot of times if you don't choose that, if you're going to choose that the insurance, you're looking at the patients a lot of times, or you would be somewhat forced into looking at the patient, sometimes just figuring out what code you can get so that they can bill the insurance properly or you can

Dr. Melody Rodarte

whatever.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah, unfortunately it is. And

Dr. Melody Rodarte

when I think about when I got into medicine too, now over the last 20 years, that has changed. And I think that's why there's a lot of physician burnout is because physicians got into it to be healers. And then the business of medicine came about where, unfortunately, you're the patient in front of us is not the first, you know, our first goal to treat, it's how do we how do they survive?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So they're seeing four to 5 to 6 patients an hour because they need to meet their overhead. Because of what reimbursement looks like. So I stepped away from that saying, nope, I want to again, I want the patient in front of me to have my time. I want to use my expertise, and I want to empower my patient to to have a better lifestyle than because is it easier for me to say, oh, you're pre-diabetic, pre-diabetic?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Oh, you have hypertension. Here's a prescription. I'll see you in three months. Yeah, that takes five minutes.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

was the process in you making that decision? So you said you stepped away from it. I'm assuming what you mean as you were in that. So you had played that other game, if we

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

So was that what was that a little bit of a leap of faith.

Pat McCalla

Was that a jump for you? That was difficult.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I can look back and tell you all of the jumps, because my first practice was a geriatric practice where Medicare actually came back and said, you're billing too much. We're not going to pay you for a month because you've met, you know, that that that maximum payout. And I'm thinking to myself, how am I supposed to survive if I can't Bill?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yet you're telling me I have to wait a month to submit these these, you know, and then or my biller would come back and say, you need to put these modifiers on there to get paid. And I just thought, I don't want to play this game. So I took a leap of faith and joined a bigger group and thought things were going to be better.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Did I prescribe the right meal plans? Back then, I was already doing meal plans for patients and exercise programs and, you know, lifestyle modifications. And I thought, well, that's not fair.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Very much in, in the preventative.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah, I started off that way.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I was in too many places trying to do what I love. And so I took that leap of, okay, I'll open my own practice. Let's see how this goes.

Pat McCalla

Well, you mentioned a little bit about obesity. So they say statistically, isn't it. Somewhere around two thirds.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Two thirds of America is either overweight or obese.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

do you think that is. Now I know that's a complex

Pat McCalla

answer. Probably, but, somewhat simplified. What would you think are some of the main reasons

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Honestly, I think we've taken exercise out of schools. We've, we're not feeding our children correctly. And in the food service, I don't think we should have sugar added to certain things. We in the United States allow many more, chemicals for. I'm going to make it super easy to say that in our food. Then a majority of the rest of the world, and I believe it makes us sick.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And I, I think that there's not enough education out there that food can be medicine and food can be poison.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

That's a.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Good point, though, right.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

There. Yeah.

Pat McCalla

medicine and food can be poison.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah, yeah.

Pat McCalla

you think about I mean, just, you know, for some of the people that like cars or, vehicles, you put bad gas in your car and it doesn't

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Not going to run, right? Yeah.

Pat McCalla

So you're saying it can either fuel in a good, positive way

Pat McCalla

negative way?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

what are some solutions to that that.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I really believe that if you, if you want to lead a and healthier life, then lifestyle modifications, you're, it's going to be up to you to seek professionals who really, really want to team up with you, and want to do the extra testing. I think there's so much I think knowledge is power. And so, like.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Great wine.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Knowledge is power. And and it's true, I think a lot of people, when they are discounted, they still stay with the same provider. And again, I love my colleagues. But if you don't understand how to help somebody lose weight and your answer is eat less and exercise more, you really shouldn't be treating obesity. I would rather take that referral from you and say, this is one of my specialties.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Let me let me see that patient. Let me, let me help them out. So I want to empower patients to say, I'm going to seek providers that see me, that want to walk alongside of me, and I, I love the field of functional and internal medicine and functional medicine, holistic medicine and integrative medicine, because we want to find the root.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Why are you, gaining weight? Is it perimenopause? Is it menopause? Is it menopause? Is your thyroid not functioning? Is it the type of food did you didn't even know that you were gluten sensitive or celiac? And now you're eating all of this and you're inflamed and you're trying to find other foods to work, and you're like, why am I gaining weight?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

You can't exercise the same way. Like, I went through this five years ago. My exercise routine in my 20s and 30s is not the exercise routine of my 40s.

Pat McCalla

get

Dr. Melody Rodarte

it.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah. You know.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So there it's sleep is so important. I think we don't sleep enough. Everybody is in this run, run, run society. And sleep is important. That's where the body restores itself. So there's a lot of reasons why weight comes on or disease progresses. And, and so we have to kind of roll it back and say, what's one thing I can work on.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

What what what can I do

Pat McCalla

man. You you threw out so many

Dr. Melody Rodarte

things can go so many different directions, but sorry,

Pat McCalla

one of them. Let's just stop there for just a moment. You're you're right.

Pat McCalla

there's almost a cultural bragging about it because as you know my story,

Pat McCalla

Pat McCalla

My, my thing that I would always say to people, and it almost felt good to brag about it. Like, I don't sleep. I have too much to do. I want to see too much. I said, man, I don't want to sleep away. Two thirds. All right. Sorry, sorry, a third of my life.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

You know, if you

Pat McCalla

get eight hours of sleep, there's a third of your life gone.

Pat McCalla

But since I've started sleeping better. Thank you.

Pat McCalla

I, realized that two thirds of your life that you are awake are so much better.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

You're you're actually more productive.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah, exactly.

Pat McCalla

Which again, though, I would say it's not the reason to do it because productivity is almost become a small g god in our

Dr. Melody Rodarte

culture. True, right? But true. But you're right. You're

Pat McCalla

just I think you, you feel better, there's a better quality of life. But that's one of the things you're doing with preventative medicine. And again, you're looking at really holistically like, eating healthy and eating the right foods and getting the right sleep. And a lot of these things where you're saying, going back to what you said earlier, 95%.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Of your genes, you can help up regulate and down regulate correctly.

Pat McCalla

Okay. So again, with the the core idea of this podcast being the power and complexity of human choice, I think that's so important for your audience to hear.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah, there's a lot of power in there.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And it does.

Pat McCalla

that you're saying you're the what you the choices you make with your health. You can influence 95% of your, your genes.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And if we go back to that first statement where food is medicine or food is poison, you're putting a cell signal like when you if you think of food that way, you're signaling to your body what to do with it. Like it's it's amazing.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So you're hitting on the

Pat McCalla

food thing quite a bit, which I think is obviously important. We have to eat to

Dr. Melody Rodarte

survive.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yes.

Pat McCalla

But you're saying we poison ourselves or we can actually increase the quality of life and our health. What are some practical ideas you would give. So again, this is dropping early January. I think a lot of our

Pat McCalla

in just recent weeks, like, okay, I'm going to get healthier.

Pat McCalla

I'm going to lose 5 pounds or 10 pounds or 20 pounds, whatever it is for them. What are some practical ways that you would just encourage our audience to start making, different choices in their food?

Host

we hope you've enjoyed this episode so far. Be sure to like and subscribe to not miss a future podcast! Okay, let's get back to the episode.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I think some of the easiest what I usually tell my patients is, what if we try to eat out less, especially fast food? And why don't we look at what we're ordering from a fast food place as well? So you could go to a chick fil A or, you know, somewhere and get a salad.

Pat McCalla

my fried chicken sandwich

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I you know what? Maybe just if that's your treat, I always say don't say cheat because then it brings shame. So if that's your treat and that's your favorite, have it once in a while. You know, I.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Like what

Pat McCalla

you just said, by the way, because I do use that. I say this is my cheat meal or my

Dr. Melody Rodarte

yeah,

Pat McCalla

you're saying. That just brings on shame a little bit. And then you're, you know, sometimes my cheat meal turns into a whole bag of chips or

Dr. Melody Rodarte

something.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And then you're like, oh, if I'm going to cheat today, I might as well. Or this meal just cheat the whole day.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And so I might.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

So, okay, but I, I interrupted you, but you

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Know, it's okay.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

To have fast food.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah. I mean.

Pat McCalla

different choice that you make,

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah. So making there, they're still, other options. So there are a few fast food joints I can tell you I will not step.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Foot.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

In there, but maybe it's like you don't get the fries and the shake or the soda. If you want the chicken sandwich, you have the chicken sandwich. You're reducing a ton of calories by just having not and not having all of the extras that come with it. And, and then, you know, if you're going to the grocery store, like, stick to the you've probably heard stick to the outer perimeters because that's where all the full foods are, like your fruits and vegetables and your meats, where all the processed stuff is usually in the middle.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Kind of reducing processed foods. A

Dr. Melody Rodarte

big thing is reducing seed oils.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Processed foods.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So they're mostly inflammatory. They're going to have a lot like if you can't pronunciation some of the ingredients. There's something.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Which would be great point.

Pat McCalla

Flip over whatever you just bought at the store and start reading the ingredient list.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

And you can't

Dr. Melody Rodarte

you can't.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah. Or it's like sugar is there first the first line on there sugar shouldn't be the first ingredient sugar. Does it need to be in certain things? My biggest pet peeve is sugar and peanut butter. There shouldn't be sugar in peanut butter. I think you just need peanuts and salt or peanuts.

Pat McCalla

George Washington Carver would be so happy to hear you

Pat McCalla

for audiences. Just know he's the one that came up with peanut butter. Invented peanut butter, right? He's a peanut man.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

But my favorite person in the world.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

That's right. Yeah, I forgot

Pat McCalla

about. I did not even bring up that name knowing that. But now you just mentioned I remember we had

Dr. Melody Rodarte

a.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I love peanut butter. That's my go to.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

But, I mean, so you didn't hear me say, you've got to, you know, eat 500 calories. You didn't hear me say, you've got to go on a fad diet. There's just little tiny things that you can do to start reducing calories overall. And these are calories you don't need. So if you focus on your proteins and your vegetables and maybe complex carbs, like you're not feeling stuck, like I've got to count on my macros and and everything, it just you'll notice that you start to feel better by just kind of getting more whole food in.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And there are a lot of places that are popping up to help you with meal prep, because again, we come to being so busy and not everybody's wanting to cook. So there's a lot of places where you can pick your protein, you can pick your vegetable, you can pick your salad and kind of take it home and have it through the week.

Pat McCalla

what with the food industry. Why is that shifted so much in our country? Because you said this earlier. And you're right, like a lot of kind of we allow so much more chemicals. So for example, I was traveling recently and, you know, you buy a loaf of bread here and it will last quite a

Dr. Melody Rodarte

while. You go to

Pat McCalla

another country where they don't allow all the chemicals. You buy a loaf of bread in like 2 or 3 days later, it's going bad.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

So

Pat McCalla

where did our food industry go? Go off track with this? Like I'm always blown away that I can buy something so much cheaper that has all these extra ingredients in it.

Pat McCalla

When this thing over here that has, you know, salt, flour and yeast or whatever, I pay more for that.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Why is.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

That?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And I don't know why. I mean, look at look at that. There were over 12 years now that I've been hearing the same push and we're still stuck, you know, so we I.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Think.

Pat McCalla

that hard to get healthier food in the school.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

My favorite story is my daughter gets to go to to junior high. And she's so excited because they told her that they're going to be there's going to be a salad bar at school. And she came home practically in tears the first day because she said, mom, it wasn't really a salad bar, that it was that iceberg lettuce.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

There was one vegetable, it was a cucumber. And then they had ranch. She's like, I was excited. I was thinking, because you think back then there was like, that's what,

Dr. Melody Rodarte

there was that store or that restaurant that had like the salad bar that went totally from one end to the other. She was thinking she was going to be able to pick and choose and make a true salad bar.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So

Pat McCalla

yeah. Well, food. So you talk about whole foods, real foods, one of the most important things. And that's where you're saying one of the practical things that we can do to just make healthier choices is stay in there.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Stay in that. And I would say if you've ever heard of like, The Dirty Dozen or Dirty 15, clean 15 like that actually makes a difference to. So when you can afford to do organic, that's even better because there's less organophosphates and herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics use that way. So again, look at your budget. Make the small changes that you can.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And every time you make another small change, it's going to make a difference to how your body is responding.

Pat McCalla

What do you think is one of the biggest things that stands in the way of people, making good habits. So again we're at the time of year where people are listening, probably listening intently to what you have to say because they just a few days or weeks ago said, I'm going to get healthier. But as human beings, it's so hard for us to, to change habits.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

it is.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I think it's with everything. Right? Like working out, eating better, you know, maybe finding meditation time, whatever it is. I love the book Atomic Habits because it talks. It talks about doing those small little things that then will add up. Because I will tell you, as a perfectionist, it's hard. Like if I write a list that's too big and I can't get through it, it makes me feel like a failure.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So I've stopped doing that, and I only write down the things that I for sure can get down and done. And if I can, then I'll go look at the other list of what can I bring over. So I think that's it.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

It's so much like I know that's why I love I love being friends.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Before

Pat McCalla

we turned the cameras and the mics on. How much alike you two are. But that she would do the same thing. Like if, if she makes a list and she's not pretty sure she can get through it, it's going to really bother her.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Like, I'll, I'll actually stay up later to try to get it done or it's just amazing. So I think if we're talking about New Year's, I love to tell people it's not a new year. I want it to be a better you like. So what's one thing that you can do to better yourself? Because if every year you say new year, new you, then it's like, well, if I didn't become a new you, then I failed.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Going back to that shame or failure kind of thing was just one thing that you can do to better yourself. Maybe it's you. Stop. Soda.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Maybe it's if you love alcohol, it's one drink a week and not a glass of wine every night.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

It's just amazing. Like alcohol is is a carcinogen in itself as well. Even if it's just one drink, it's it can be that way. You know, I think I just did a post where it's tobacco obesity and then next is alcohol as top carcinogens that you can avoid, you know, for, for cancers.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And so just pick something that you can do if you eat out every day at work, maybe you choose to take your lunch twice a week and eat out three times. Those are small changes that you can that will add up and then you don't feel like, oh my gosh, I said, I was going to stop. So to stop alcohol, go to bed early or get to the gym and cook five meals a week.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

God bless you. If you actually get it done in the first month.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

It

Pat McCalla

goes back to that, that acronym Smart goals.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yep.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Small. Attainable.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

achievable or attainable. Yeah. That we do sometimes especially in the beginning of a year we write down ten things that we want to do. And then we feel like we failed because we need those ten.

Pat McCalla

So you're suggesting just just pick one thing that can start impacting, which

Dr. Melody Rodarte

does go. Yeah. That book

Pat McCalla

Great book, Atomic Habits, where he's talk in the book, he's proving actually,

Pat McCalla

science that sometimes making a couple of small changes will actually lead eventually to big change, other habits that will start changing and shifting

Dr. Melody Rodarte

right?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah. That's true.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Recommending that.

Pat McCalla

What are your thoughts on some of the medication that's coming out? Like it's all over the news

Dr. Melody Rodarte

right. I can't

Pat McCalla

even pronounce some of these,

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So yeah.

Pat McCalla

one Ozempic

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah. Ozempic way. Govi.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

so semaglutide is the generic name. And then way Govi is for weight loss. Ozempic is for diabetes. It's got some other indications for cardiovascular disease and some others, but truly it's just the same medication packaged differently. Same goes with manager now in Zepp band that is turns up a tide. And so I know.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And the third one that's coming out like by the end of this. Well, it'll be probably by January when we this this airs retro two tide like I've had. I'm still trying to get that one down correctly to say, and so these I'm going to tell you these are incredible. We call them ions anti-obesity medications. I don't know if they should be first line.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

That's another. That's why I tell everybody I do personalized medicine. I look at the patient in front of me and decide which medication is best if we go that direction. But they have been a game changer. I also feel like they have been, used and abused incorrectly. I've been very forward about discussing that, this year because I don't believe anybody with the power to write a prescription, should be just offering these medications.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I think it should come with, monitoring. Correct. Monitoring, meal planning. Because you can I think why it's making a name right now is so many people have had so much muscle loss and complications, and it's because they're overusing it. They're not using it correctly. So I'm a big advocate for using the medication in the right person in the right time.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

But if you're my patient, I'm not letting you go to the point where you're not eating all day. You're telling me I oh, this is great. I have no hunger. I'm not eating all day. I'm like, that's what we're going to go down on your dose because I want you to have something called appropriate hunger.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Part of the thing that those medications do is suppress.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah, they really are great at reducing food noise and helping you feel full.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

taking that's your point. If someone starts taking it, they prescribe too much or something. They're not eating all day. And

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And that's not.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Good.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah. Yeah. Because I think when you then you're forcing yourself to eat. And those who have had eating disorders or they have yo yo their whole life and that, that's just really pouring fuel on the fire. So what I love is dosing these appropriately where you're back in control. Most patients will be like, I'm not reaching for the snack.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I can just fill my plate once and maybe not even finish it. I want that appropriate nutrition, appropriate hunger, like, oh, it's noon, I should be hungry. Not oh my gosh, I've gone all day and now I've got to figure out what to eat. It's it's called appropriate. Hunger is a really the key term that I use.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And so these are incredible medications. They can be used.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah I like

Pat McCalla

that phrase appropriate hunger.

Pat McCalla

So this can go a couple of different directions. Right I like that.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

what does that mean? If you were sitting down with a patient explain that. Because again, I've never had a problem with not eating my the other is so appropriate hunger you would say when I'm like my worst time, my most difficult time for me to be disciplined is when I'm watching, Netflix on the couch.

Pat McCalla

So I don't have a problem. There's no reason that I need to be, like,

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Eating. Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

For some reason,

Pat McCalla

when I sit on the couch, start watching, that comes back because it's triggering something. But that's where you would say, well, that's inappropriate hunger. You just eat dinner an hour ago, you shouldn't be hungry,

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah, that would be an.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

That's an example of it. And it's also like, you know, it would tie in that emotional side if you're happy, if you're sad, like, think about things like, oh, you got 100% on a test. Let's go get an ice cream. Oh, you had to be a bad day at school. Let's go get ice cream like we wanted.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

It had.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Us parents.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Did.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Like we were. We were creating that.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah, yeah. Instead of doing, like, an activity, like, let's go for a walk, you know, because then that releases endorphins and that will help you not, you know, if you have a sad day or, you know, let's go cheer. Let's go do something good for someone because you got all this energy because you got 100% on a test.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Let's go do something for somebody. So, you know, pointing, we won't go down that road, but I will, I will. I like those examples to give people. But when we really talk about obesity medicine, many people who have struggled since childhood or they're teens, they don't know what it feels like to feel full or to not think about food all the time.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And so these certain medications have really made it where they're like, oh my gosh, the food noise is gone. Like I'm not thinking about what's for breakfast, lunch and dinner and for snack. I'm not watching to see how much you're eating to know that I ate. That's how I should be full. Because you're full because I don't have that full fullness receptor that goes off in me.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So there's that piece. And when we add those medications, then they're sometimes they're afraid that they got hungry because then they're like, oh, I'm not supposed to have hunger. And I'm like, no, no, no. What time did the hunger come on? And when you ate, did it go. Did it when you when you ate, did it go away eat.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Ate.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And so the appropriateness is having. Correct. Cuz it's time to eat you. It's been 4 or 5 hours since you ate. And then or or the other time is is like you feel full. I don't need to have a snack or I don't need to keep eating until then. Those cues are screaming at you. I'm gonna.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

You know I'm not. You cannot take another bite or it's all going to come up kind of thing.

Pat McCalla

What? What percentage? Because you've seen a lot of patients over the years. What what percentage of people would you say, come in with inappropriate hunger? You know, because of bad habits or whatever.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

you know, may not be an

Pat McCalla

eating disorder. It could just be like what I

Dr. Melody Rodarte

was. Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I think I, I you where

Pat McCalla

I'm full again, I'm for I'm at a restaurant and they bring the bread out.

Pat McCalla

I love bread

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Or the chips and.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Salsa.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Chips and salsa and

Pat McCalla

I'm full, but I'm still eating. So I would say that's inappropriate, right. So what percentage would you say of people that struggle with that

Dr. Melody Rodarte

You know.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I'm going to say 100% of people really think about it.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Percentage. Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Because I think all of us have because I think especially if we're here in the US, food is abundant, food is celebrated like. And so I think all of us at in some realm are trying to conquer when we eat what we eat. It's not it's not an issue for a majority of people because they're like, oh no, I'm full.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I really don't need the piece of cake afterwards. I know they're having a special and the waitress really wants me to order, but I'll leave her a bigger tip. She's, you know, kind of thing. And so I think everybody does because of this, the society that we live in. But I think maybe 55 to 65, because if we, if we think of one third of the US is overweight, another third is obese, I think then we're really dealing with with that inappropriateness.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And let's go back to the, food industry. Food has been made to have certain flavors, that trick your brain to want it. So they these, these biochem assets are incredible at creating food that you can't get in nature. Tell me where you can get an Oreo.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And had.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

To go to Oreos.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Or a Cheeto or two. My favorite. Yeah, you're.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Right, it's not out.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

There. No.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And you can't just eat one. They have made this chemical profile that triggers a dopamine release that's really hard to do. And we make fun of we have commercials that are like.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

You know.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Just let's see you eat one. It's really hard. And so it's easier to not have it than to try and just have one.

Pat McCalla

You know, and this this whole conversation I think is so important because I, I'm a person of faith and you're a person of faith. And because of that, I believe that we are created holistically. I mean, as human beings, we're the where the pinnacle of God's creation, we're separate from anything else because we're creating the image of God.

Pat McCalla

He said, take care of he put us in charge of this. He put us in charge of our own bodies, I think. And, being holistic, he cares about every part of us the physical, the spiritual, the mental.

Pat McCalla

So I love this conversation. What about let me ask you one more question then. What about hormone replacement?

Pat McCalla

Because that's another thing that's been talked about a

Dr. Melody Rodarte

lot.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

in recent years. Maybe I didn't hear it earlier in my life because I was younger. Now I'm older, so it comes up

Dr. Melody Rodarte

up a lot. It is. Is that a.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Newer?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

It is.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And I'm like, let's, let's dive into the health study. Let's, let's really go through it. But hormones are important and I think unfortunately.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So talk.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

They helpful for our metabolism hormones. Women have testosterone. Let's go there first. I think most people don't even know that women have testosterone. So men even have estrogen. Men don't even know that part of it. You know too. And so we we have hormones in our bodies. They are they are linked with how we age. When do women start getting cardiovascular disease?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Perimenopausal menopause? Because our hormones, those protective hormones, are reduced. That's when they are more likely for osteoporosis. Men can get osteoporosis. That little bit of estrogen that that's good for them in their bones starts to go down. So hormones are important for our metabolism. Our it plays a role with our thyroid function. The amount of visceral fat that we have, that's that around the abdomen.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

That's the kind that makes us sick. That's the bad fat around the abdomen.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Caused by Oreos. Yes. Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And so hormones are important. And, it's not to say that everybody needs to go on hormone replacement, but it is to say that I think checking them out and supporting the body is really important, especially if you're symptomatic. And the other portion of that too is as you get healthier, your hormones can actually get better. Because with.

Pat McCalla

to one of those 95%

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah,

Pat McCalla

you can start

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Not only.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

When you have a lot of visceral fat, your hormones get stuck in the.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Fat.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And so I'll have a lot of people who will start, working out, eating better, sleeping better, and their hormone levels start to go up naturally. And it's, it's so it's it's part of that, you know, we we just talked about our faith our our bodies are incredible. And when you feed it what it's supposed to have and when you treat it like the temple it's supposed to be, it's amazing how it will respond.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And so a lot of times I just talk about using nutrition to, to activate those pathways to see what will happen. And then if there, if we're we have some shortcomings. Let's try natural first. So hormones are bioidentical. You can use you don't need to use synthetic hormones.

Pat McCalla

so explain that again to

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So you.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

May not know what.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

You just said. Yeah.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So like let's take progesterone. You can do a micro nice progesterone or you can do like a progestin. Progestin is what caused the issue. That's a synthetic progesterone. And in the literature unfortunately you have to read really deep into it. Did they use a progesterone or did they use a progestin. So there's a difference here. So when you're talking to your providers is like birth control.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

That's a synthetic estrogen. Different types of estrogens. It's not an extra dial. It's not like what comes in the patch or from a yeah. You know, in in everything. So they're seeing somebody who understands the difference is really important here because it's not one size fits all. And, you can get natural and prescription as well as, you know, kind of over the counter.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So, so hormone therapy, we could do a whole section on hormone therapy, but it's important for men and women.

Pat McCalla

is it true in saying especially as we age.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yes.

Pat McCalla

Okay. So that would be

Dr. Melody Rodarte

true.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

That would especially be true because we're not producing it, especially with

Dr. Melody Rodarte

health of our nation right now, we are really deficient. We're seeing we shouldn't we shouldn't be seeing perimenopause as early as we see it. And usually we would think, oh, this is something that we see 50. We're seeing it as early as 35 now.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Food and how.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

We're.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I really do. Why are girls getting their periods earlier. I mean again a whole different topic. So why are you know it's it's, it's it's there. So I think you know if you have kids these days teaching them I love it. I didn't talk to my kids about having food that was good or bad. I just wanted to know, is this a good choice or is there a better choice?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Because I didn't want them to think that I was villainized certain foods, and I didn't want them to feel bad because they ate the Oreo. You know, I just was like, is that a good choice? We have stuff in our house. He's not my husband.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah. We don't have just, you know,

Dr. Melody Rodarte

fruits and vegetables and meats. We've got some things. I've got ice cream in there, you know, but, it's it's again going back. Is it a cheat or a treat? Is it the day that I get to have my treat or not? Like, how am I doing? Am I using this because I'm upset or is it just.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yep. It's it's my day that I get to have my scoop of ice cream because it's Friday evening, you know?

Pat McCalla

I like that. You said good and better. Like good choices and better choices. There's good choices, better choices. That is a good way to put that I think.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

to put that, you know, one things that I've really noticed so far, kind of the theme that you've talked about is the individualization. And I think it's important for audience to hear.

Pat McCalla

And then I want to get your your input on this, to try to find a provider that is going to treat them with more of that, because everybody's different. Everybody has a different felt. You started off by saying that. I've heard it come up a couple of times in your answers.

Pat McCalla

You know,

Dr. Melody Rodarte

even. Yeah, we're talking

Pat McCalla

about some of the the medications that have come out to, to combat obesity is and you're saying, hey, for some it's effective and we got to work on doses.

Pat McCalla

For some they need to do some other things. So how would you recommend for our audience to try to find a provider? So if they live in the Phoenix area, they could probably Google you and figure to come to you. And I hope you get so much business

Dr. Melody Rodarte

now you get some other people. But

Pat McCalla

what about someone who maybe lives in a different state or a different area? How do they go find a provider that will have this holistic,

Pat McCalla

individualized programs?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I would say, you know, there are several, like find a physician, websites like if you go to functional medicine or integrative medicine or bio identical hormones and like you search for a provider that way and then you could go to their website and see what is their philosophy, what are they about, what are the services they offer.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And, and I think with, those who really love to do, you know, they want to just have a conversation with their provider that they have now. They can say, look, you know, this is these are some of the things I heard, you know, what are your thought processes? And if that provider says, wow, these are great, let me let's, you know, do you mind seeing me more often?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Well, the answer should be yes. Like this. We're going to do medicine together. So. And if they say, no, I don't believe in any of this, then you go look for someone. You look for someone else because there's enough of us out there who are getting louder and louder to know medicine should be personalized. It should be a team approach.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And there's really no such thing as a dumb question when it comes to to medicine. I learned so much from my patients because let's say you came to me with a certain, you know, ailment or disease. You're going to be night and day researching what's out there. So I feel it's my job to say, what are some of the neat things that you have found?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Let me take a look. Because I'm not researching at night and day. And so I'm seeing this as a relationship of how do we get you better? And I might say

Dr. Melody Rodarte

with my, you know, with my professionalism, like, okay, this looks great. This I don't think about let's, let's do this. Or I might then be able to say, I'm going to talk to your specialist or I'm going to I'm going to refer you here and tell them all of the work that we've done leading up to here, and let them take it from this point forward.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

And, and I'm hoping that medicine, like I said, like there's, you know, there's a fork in the road. So either you, you do want to become an active part of how you age or you don't. So we have that choice. And so finding someone in your area that does this, and there are so many podcasts now that are out there.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

So you can do learning on this and then go to your provider.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yeah.

Pat McCalla

And I really heard you saying two things. I go find the right provider. And you gave us some practical ways to go do that. But then you put it back with us again. And their choice

Pat McCalla

actually we live in a time that's unprecedented in all of human history, that you can go dig in and find information and find a lot of bad information, wrong information.

Pat McCalla

That's the problem with it.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

But side of it is

Pat McCalla

you can do your research and really start digging into these things.

Pat McCalla

Pat McCalla

Do we miss anything that you'd want to say to them?

Host

As we're wrapping up this episode. Be sure to leave us a five star review. And if you're watching on YouTube, leave a comment on something you'll take away. All right, let's hop back into the remainder of the episode.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

No, I think this this was

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I thank you for letting me share my heart on this, because it's really I actually hope there's I really hope there's actually providers and physicians that are listening to this who I actually can empower, that they can break away and be successful. Because I think a lot of us get into this and don't know that there's a business side to medicine, and we really are afraid of it and not knowing how to do it.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

We want to make a paycheck. We've paid so much to become a physician, you know, and so I'm actually I would say that that's kind of what I would like to leave this with, because I think we've empowered patients and, and everyone else to, to really get active. But I really want to speak out to those who are in the health care profession, like go to the CME that your hospital won't pay for.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Like that's what I started to do. I started to go to the ones that were not the big national ones, per se, for internal medicine, because I kept thinking, I'm learning the same thing over and over again, and it's not helping me like I. So I started to go to, regenerative medicine conferences. I started to go to integrative medicine conferences, hormone ones.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I've even done ones that are on meditation and breathing and everything else because I'm like, well, if I'm telling my patient to go get acupuncture and learn how to breathe, I'm gonna as well kind of think, look into this too. So I actually want that last thing would be empower those who are in health care to seek other realms of education to empower themselves.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Especially if they are not happy with how they're practicing.

Pat McCalla

great. Great words. I and I just want to encourage our audience, to take, you know, some of these things that you shared and put them into practice. I think my wife and I have talked a lot about. That's why we we met you and started talking with you, but we talked about it's about quality of life.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

like, I know I'm going to die

Pat McCalla

someday. Like no one gets out of here without dying. I know I'm going to get older. I can't stop

Dr. Melody Rodarte

That. Yeah.

Pat McCalla

But while we're here, the time we have here, there's a lot of, like, the quality of life.

Pat McCalla

And there's some things that are out of our control. There's some diseases we might get that are out of our control.

Pat McCalla

But what you're saying is there's a lot we can control by the choices we make. So,

Pat McCalla

Melody, thank you so

Dr. Melody Rodarte

much.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Thank you, thank you.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Doing,

Pat McCalla

I hope that, those in health care will take to heart what you said. I would love to see things starting to change. And we are starting seem change, aren't we?

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Yes, yes.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

All right, well, now the fun part.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Is.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Using the light. We'll see if you can

Pat McCalla

stop me.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Okay. So

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I'm the first person to go to college in my family. I have won a karaoke competition and I took French in high school and college to make it for me. Fluent in French.

Pat McCalla

Wow.

Pat McCalla

Okay, so you won karaoke. You know, the only reason I'm going to say yes on that is I was joking about us doing some music thing at the beginning, before we even turned the cameras in the mics on.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

and it didn't scare you. You actually almost embraced it. So

Pat McCalla

I'm going to say the karaoke one is true.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

It's actually the false one.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I knew it.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

Oh, you set me up with that, I did. That was good.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

I am afraid of singing in public.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

But in the car, man, I crush it.

Pat McCalla

yeah. Because no one cares.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

about enough. Can't even hear.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

It. Exactly.

Dr. Melody Rodarte

well, Rachel definitely got me on that one.

Pat McCalla

Well, Melody, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it.

Host

Wow. So many good wellness takeaways Doctor Rodarte left us with. Stay tuned for part two of this wellness series dropping in two weeks. Remember, this year isn't about a brand new you. It's about becoming a better, stronger, and healthier version of you. We'll see you next time.