Wed, 29 November 2023
This episode’s guest is Dr. Michelle Thompson, the medical director of the Lifestyle Medicine Institute at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). This conversation explores how Dr. Thompson is bringing lifestyle and integrative medicine into major health systems. She began her journey practicing integrative medicine but leveraged the six pillars of lifestyle medicine to bridge the gap with conventional medicine. This hybrid path allowed her to excel at practicing in traditional settings and facilitated introducing integrative and lifestyle medicine principles into larger health systems. Dr. Thompson also shared evidence that there is growing momentum behind the integrative and lifestyle medicine movements, including acceptance and adoption of its principles within health systems. She encourages physicians who may have previously left the system to consider returning and joining a hospital system that is open to change and supportive of these modalities. Building upon recent podcast conversations, such as the episode with Dr. Joe Pizzorno, this episode emphasizes the importance of unity amongst the many disciplines within health-promoting care. Download and listen to this episode to learn more about:
Related resources: American College of Lifestyle Medicine: About the UMPC Lifestyle Medicine Program
Direct download: 20231122_Podcast_Michelle_Thompson_1.mp3
Category:health, alternative health -- posted at: 9:00am CDT |
Wed, 1 November 2023
Dr. Joe Pizzorno, a prominent naturopathic doctor and Board Chair at the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM), joins James to discuss the unifying factors among the many channels of health medicine, which include acupuncture, naturopathic, functional, integrative, chiropractic, and Ayurvedic medicine. This conversation addresses foundational aspects of health, such as nutrition and lifestyle, that support optimal mitochondrial function for vitality. Dr. Pizzorno also shared the need for scientific research to support the effectiveness of health medicine practices and calls for increased funding in this area. For example, he hopes that we will have access to reliable clinical testing for mitochondrial energy and ATP production in the future. Listen to the episode to learn more about:
Related resources:
Direct download: 20231024_Podcast_Joe_Pizzorno.mp3
Category:health, alternative health -- posted at: 9:45am CDT |
Wed, 18 October 2023
In this podcast episode, James Maskell speaks with Swathi Rao, PA-C. She is the owner of Be Well Family Care in Indianapolis, and she was featured in James’ book, The Community Cure, to showcase her successful implementation of group visits. We explored the clinical applications of vitamin K2, which range from musculoskeletal and immune health to aesthetics and longevity. Swathi also shared how her knowledge on vitamin K2 nutrient therapy has developed throughout her career, how to identify patients who may benefit from vitamin K2 therapy and the benefits of combining vitamin K2 with vitamin D, including dosing recommendations. Swathi emphasized the importance of patient education to enable informed decision-making when it comes to controversial health topics like vitamin K2 supplementation. She also provided insights on building a successful practice and the role of non-MD professionals in healthcare. Please download and listen to learn more about:
Related resources:
Direct download: 20230914_Podcast_Swathi_Rao.mp3
Category:health, alternative health -- posted at: 8:00am CDT |
Wed, 11 October 2023
Our podcast guest, Michael Mabry, DO, works in a fully capitated medical group in Johnson City, Tennessee. Capitation is a fee-per-patient model, which tends to promote health by incentivizing preventative medicine, chronic disease reversal and helping patients maintain their health. Implementing group medical visits has allowed Dr. Mabry’s practice to improve patient outcomes and increase the local community’s access to lifestyle medicine. In his group visits, patients who have similar medical issues come together once a month for a two-hour visit to learn relevant health information. Dr. Mabry also shared that he can spend more time with patients individually because he has systemized patient education. Part of the success of the group visits, according to Dr. Mabry, comes from the much-needed sense of community experienced by participants. Early in his career, he learned about how to build and scale his practice through some of the first Functional Forum events and the Group Visit Toolkits from Lifestyle Matrix Resource Center. When you listen to this episode, you’ll also learn about the following:
Direct download: 20230920_Podcast_Michael_Mabry_2.mp3
Category:health, alternative health -- posted at: 8:00am CDT |
Wed, 27 September 2023
This week’s podcast guest is Jonathan Jones, PhD, a plant polyphenols researcher and the Chief Scientific Officer at Monteloeder, a company that provides innovative, scientifically researched botanical ingredients by assessing the botanicals’ components, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacities, and mechanisms of action. They developed a product called metabolaid®, which contains a standardized ratio of Hibiscus sabdariffa extract and lemon verbena extract to deliver active compounds, primarily anthocyanins and verbascoside, respectively. This product reduces triglyceride buildup in fat cells in the liver and adipose tissue. We learned from Dr. Jones about how metabolaid® activates AMPK, which can switch on fat burning and block fat storage. There are numerous other cardiovascular and weight-loss benefits linked to this product, including improved microbiome diversity and others discussed by Dr. Jones in this episode. Please listen to the full conversation to learn the following about this powerful botanical:
Direct download: 20230920_Podcast_Jonathan_Jones-.mp3
Category:health, alternative health -- posted at: 8:00am CDT |
Wed, 23 August 2023
On this episode, Jon D. Kaiser, MD taught us about the mitochondrial health and chronic disease connection. Dr. Kaiser is a mitochondrial specialist with over thirty years of clinical and research experience in applying functional medicine approaches to treat complex medical conditions, including HIV/AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia and long COVID. Dr. Kaiser began his career as an HIV/AIDS specialist in San Francisco at the height of the HIV epidemic. He found that many of his patients needed nutritional and mitochondrial support, especially after manifesting antiviral medication side effects. He developed protocols to help patients improve their baseline health with an original nutraceutical formulation that supports mitochondrial health. Dr. Kaiser joined James to discuss how he has applied his protocols to help patients with other chronic illnesses and post-infection syndromes. Tune in to learn more from Dr. Kaiser about the following topics:
This episode continues to explore the theme laid out in the August 2023 Functional Forum, Mitochondrial Mayem, where we learned how mitochondrial dysfunction leads to a wide range of chronic illnesses—from autoimmunity to cardiometabolic disease, neurologic disorders and more.
Direct download: 20230814_Podcast_Jon_Kaiser.mp3
Category:health, alternative health -- posted at: 8:00am CDT |
Wed, 16 August 2023
This week, we address a hot and controversial topic in medicine: weight loss pharmaceuticals. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptides (GIP) agonists are gaining popularity for their use in treating type 2 diabetes and, in some cases, obesity. These medications stimulate insulin secretion and are shown to increase weight loss and improve blood pressure. However, significant gastrointestinal and other rare but concerning side effects make these medications controversial. Patients often also gain back much of the lost weight when these medications are stopped. Our guest this episode is Christina Robins, MD, who has a successful clinic called RevitaLife, which blends family medicine, women’s health care, antiaging medicine and medical weight loss, among other services. Dr. Robins has long been using GLP-1 agonists with her patients, and she joined James to share her strategies for supporting patients using those medications in combination with nutraceutical support. Listen to the full conversation to learn about the following:
Direct download: 20230810_Podcast_Christina_Robins2.mp3
Category:health, alternative health -- posted at: 9:38am CDT |
Wed, 26 July 2023
Dan Strause is the president and CEO of Hometown Pharmacy, which is a network of 70 independent functional pharmacies across Wisconsin and Upper Michigan that deliver patient-focused care. The Hometown Pharmacy group seeks to connect prescribing clinicians with pharmacists to collaborate and achieve the goal of moving patients from pharmaceuticals to nutraceuticals to food. They see a critical need for pharmacists to reconnect and work with prescribing clinicians, especially to mitigate or address drug-induced nutrient deficiencies. Building relationships between patients, prescribing clinicians and pharmacists often starts with patients asking questions and engaging with their health care. Thus, the functional pharmacy approach involves empowering and inspiring patients through health education. Listen to this full conversation to learn from Dan about the many innovative strategies the group incorporates, including:
Dan Strause is a keynote speaker at the upcoming Functional Pharmacy Symposium on September 23 in Nashville, TN. He will be joined by other former Functional Forum and Evolution of Medicine podcast guests, such as James LaValle, RPh; Thomas G. Guilliams, PhD; Mark Houston, MD; and Jeff Robins, RPh. Register to attend the conference to learn more functional medicine best practices that will support the future success of your pharmacy.
Direct download: 20230724_Podcast_Dan_Strause.mp3
Category:health, alternative health -- posted at: 8:00am CDT |
Wed, 19 July 2023
Our guest this week on the podcast is Robert Pearl, MD, a lifestyle medicine champion and leader. He is the former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group (1999-2017), the largest United States medical group, and the former president of The Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group (2009-2017). In those two roles, he led 10,000 physicians and 38,000 staff. Currently, he cohosts a podcast and is an author, clinical professor, contributor to Forbes, and speaker. In this podcast episode, we discussed the economics of health care and different payment models that can support preventative care and lifestyle medicine. Dr. Pearl laid out his perspective on the issues with fee-for-service payment models—mainly that it incentivizes disease treatment rather than prevention. He proposed an alternative model known as capitation, which is the model Kaiser Permanente uses. Capitation pays a group of doctors an established, upfront fee to fulfill medical needs for a defined population of patients. Listen to this fascinating conversation to learn more about the following:
Direct download: 20230714_Podcast_Robert_Pearl.mp3
Category:health, alternative health -- posted at: 9:44am CDT |
Wed, 5 July 2023
Izabella Wentz, PharmD is an author and pharmacist who previously spoke on the Functional Forum and specializes in helping patients overcome thyroid dysfunction. In this episode, she joins James to talk about her personal journey with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis after years of debilitating symptoms. Her most recent book, Adrenal Transformation Protocol, was released on April 18, 2023. The book focuses on resetting the body’s stress response through targeted safety signals, and it features a four-week program that has already helped over 3,500 people. Dr. Wentz is also an advocate for spreading awareness about how thyroid dysfunction can produce psychiatric symptoms, which is often overlooked by conventional health care providers. Check out the full episode to learn more about:
Direct download: 20230626_Podcast_Izabella_Wentz.mp3
Category:health, alternative health -- posted at: 12:30pm CDT |